Modifiers After being beaten and deflated, the baker shaped and seasoned the dough. Try to recognize what's funny about this senien The sentence is ridiculous because of the comma phrase at the start—it seems like the baker is being beaten before he goes off to work on the dough. After being beaten and deflaied is called a modifier because it modifies. or deseribes someone or something in the same sentence. Here, the modifier is misplaced. Instead, it should go right next to the thing it’s supposed to modify: After being beaten and deflated, the dough was shaped and seasoned by the baker, A modifier is like a describing phrase. How do you know if a phrase is a modifier? Usually itccomes at the beginning of the sentence and is separated off by a comma (but not always). If all you read was After being beaten and delated, your natural thought would be, “Who or What is being beaten?” Having that thought ishow you know you're dealing with a modifier. Without the rest of the sentence, it leaves you wondering what's boeing talked about. When correcting sentences that have this error, you want to make sure there is a sersible noun that is right next to the modifier Let’s doa couple examples so you can see how modifiers are tested. Example 1 Wrong: I bought a house from the local bakery made of gingerbread. Correct: I bought a house made of gingerbread from the local bakery. Modifiers don't necessarily have to be at the start of the sentence. Here, made of gingerbread should be placed ren the house it’s describing. Otherwise, it seems like the local bakery is the thing that’s made of ginger- Example 2 Wrong: Watching the end of the world, our lives flashed before our eyes, Correct: While we werg watching the end of the world, our lives flashed before our eyes. In this example, the sentence makes no sense because ou lives don’t have eyes to watch the end of the world with, The modifier Watching the end of the world needs to modify we even though that word's not even in the sentence. Therefore, the correct version puts in the subject we and re-words the sentence. 7CHAPTER7_MODIFIERS ‘The phrase While we were watching the end of the world is an example of a dependent clause, which contains a subject and a verb but can’t stand alone as its own complete sentence. Dependent clauses are NOT modifiers Note the difference between the wrong and correct versions, The wrong version uses a modifier whereas the correct version uses a dependent clause. Dependent clauses don’t leave us wondering who or what like a modifier does. Reading just the first part of the correct version, we already know the subject is we, With, dependent clauses, we don’t have to worry about modifier errors, because again, they aren’t modifiers. Rule Keep modifiers right next to the thing they're supposed to describe. Example3 Wrong: Ritnning fiercely to the bathroom, John’s pants dropped. Correct: Running fiercely to the bathroom, John dropped his pants. Understanding this example is SUPER IMPORTANT. On rare occesfons, the SAT will try to trick you by putting, the modifier Running fiercely to the bathroom right next to John. Buthere, it’s not Join but John’s pants that's ac- tually being modified. And of course, pants can't by themselves run to the bathroom. So be extremely careful when there’s an apostrophe s. Example 4 Wrong: Spotted dealing cocaine, the police arrested the drug dealers. Correct: The police arrested the drug dealers, who were spotted dealing cocaine. Example 5 Wrong: Though cooked and seasoned to perfection, the taste of ketchup-covered oclopus was revolting. Correct: Though cooked and seasoned to perfection, the ketchup-covered octopus had 2 revolting taste. Correct: The taste of ketchup-covered octopus, though cooked and seasoned to perfection, was revolting. In this case, the modifier should modify the food itself, not the taste of it. 28. THE COLLEGE PANDA Note English is a weird language. Don’t be confused by constructions like the one below: . * The magician walked across the stage, dazzling the crowd with ard tricks. This sentence is grammatically correct and does not contain a modifier error—it’s understood that dezaling the crowd with card tricks applies to the subject, the magician, even though its placed next tothe stage. Moditier ‘errors will typically occur when the describing phrase is at the start of the sentence, as in the examples above, so don’t overanalyze these types of sentences. Note that the comma is important; without it, there WOULD be a modifier error, Exercise 1: After seeing enough of these, you should be able to instinctively spot the ridiculousness (is that a word?) of sentences that have this error. There can be multiple ways of correcting them. By correcting these on your own, you'll eam to think for yourself and more quickly identify the correct answers on the SAT, rather than relying on the answer choices to “think” for you. Answers for this chapter start on page 217 AS i in 1. Hunting for deer, Pela bulbtiito flames. ha hed his 2. Having finished the SAT Woresror fe ‘Was easy. we 3. Having had no water for five days,(the steak and cheese sandwich Was squeezed for the grease that we could drink, has. that 4. Active in community service and lca affairs, bam passion for police hat would eventually lead him to the presidency. 5. By blasting music at home, the neighbors will start to acquire your musical taste. Bon wy Il have 6. By majoring in basket weaving,’4 lifetime of regret and despair awaits. 1 ay thet 7. After catching a coe agsae he perfect cure, 8 While on air atthe radio station, the microphone ofthe talk show host exploded 4 9, Asayoung child growing up in Massachusetts, etnCHAPTER 7 MODIFIERS | 10. Hidden far from sunlight in the caves of Mars scientists have uncovered an ET, colony. “™/ wnrcevved & sofemtiss 1 looking outside the window. as crowds cheered on either side. 12. Overcooked and over-seasoned, 14, The magician dazzled and surprised the audience members| rearing a cloak and top 15, Decorated with colorful ornaments and stars, wetouk pictures by-the Christmas tree, wats pliasrote bu 16. After missing an easy goal, the erowd-booed.the soccer player. wars Gavel G, the oroms 17. Having forgotten about the homework assignment, his comments on the book in class were general state- ‘ments that could apply to any book. 18, To get the best view of the movie, ule Coaet at in the front and center. ys Collwed Gy scienksty 19. Prancing joyously from fell to fekd, de rit Felowe duces” hase, Succ 20, Though skinny and awkward from the outset, Conant isere of hun\Pife hum a television success thered potas roel mill er 21. Climbing from tree to tree, i__THE COLLEGE PANDA Exercise 2: Answers for this chapter start on page 217, Tennis Since the age of 10, [J tennis has been my daughter Cayla's fascination. BMJ Having, watched them play live, Venus and Serena Williams became her idols and she tries to imitate their aggressive play style. J When othersix year olds were watch- ing cartoons, Cayla would be watching tennis. So, as encouraging parents, BW lessons were the next step. At the ages of ten and eleven, the Williams sis. ters were enrolled at the Academy of Rick Macci to improve their game, so getting Cayla started with the game early seemed likea good idea. A) NO CHANGE B) tennis has beenthe fascination of my daugh- ter Cayla. ©) my daughter Cayla has been fascinated with tennis, A) NOCHANGE B) After Cayla watched them play live, C) Alter watching live, D) Watching them play live, g A) NOCHANGE B) Having watched carioons, ©) When watching cartoons, D) Cartoons being watched by other six year olds, tennis. | D) my daughter Cayla’s fascination has been | | gg A) NOCHANGE B) lessons hed tobe © Cayla’s lessons were D) we decided lessons were 3c a CHAPTER 7 MODIFIERS A simple sport, JE the rules of tennis have not changed since 1890, The main idea is to hit the ball inside the opponent's side of the court with a rac- quet, Made and shaped from wood, [fj players found the first racquets difficult to play with, but by improving the underlying technology, [i today’s racquets are more powerful than ever before. Hit- ting the ball, [EJ 2 player’s grip must remain firm and balanced. 2 A) NOCHANGE B) tennis has not had its rules changed ©) tennis’s rules have not changed D) mo one has changed the rules of tennis A) NO CHANGE B) the game of tennis was ©) the first racquets were D) the first racquets were found to be A) NOCHANGE B) they are C) today’s racquets have become D) today’s racquet creators have made them ‘A) NO CHANGE B) the grip of the player must remain ©) the grip must be kept D) a player must keep the grip‘Because he thought of tennis as a serious sport, her coach was quite demanding. During one par- ticular match, my daughter found it hard to see be- cause of the sun. [fj She swung and missed the tennis ball squinting at the sky. Her coach got very angry. Needless to say, we soon had to find her a newr coach. Searching for one that was more patient, JI} it wes time we asked our friends for recommenda- tions, Playing tennis can be tough, but it should also be enjoyable. The new coach tumed out to be great. With spin and power, she taught Cayla a bet- {er way to serve the ball. The first time she spun the ball in, she jumped up and down excitedly like it was Christmas moming. Growing in confidence, fj her movements be- came more smooth. At one point, Cayla even chal- lenged her coach to a friendly match. I can’t wait to see how she evolves as a tennis playerin the coming years. THE COLLEGE PANDA a ‘ A) NOCHANGE B) She swung and missed the tennis ball by squinting at the sky. ©) She swung and missed, squinting at thesky, the tennis ball. D) Squinting at the sky, she swung and missed the tennis ball. A) NOCHANGE B) we asked friends for © our friends gave us ‘D) our friends were asked for a A) NOCHANGE B) She tanght Cayla, with spin and power, a better way to serve the ball. ©) She taught Cayla a better way to serve, with spin and power, the ball D) She taught Cayla a better way to serve the ball with spin and power. a A) NO CHANGE B) her movements were smoother C) she moved more smoothly. D) the way she moved became smoother.