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modifiers (1)

Modifiers enhance sentence meaning by adding clarity or detail and can take the form of words, phrases, or clauses. Common types include adjectival and adverbial clauses, demonstratives, possessive adjectives, and prepositional phrases, each serving specific grammatical functions. Writers often make errors such as dangling modifiers, misplaced modifiers, and ambiguous modifiers, which can lead to confusion in meaning.

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4 views

modifiers (1)

Modifiers enhance sentence meaning by adding clarity or detail and can take the form of words, phrases, or clauses. Common types include adjectival and adverbial clauses, demonstratives, possessive adjectives, and prepositional phrases, each serving specific grammatical functions. Writers often make errors such as dangling modifiers, misplaced modifiers, and ambiguous modifiers, which can lead to confusion in meaning.

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hmdhabibullah796
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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MODIFIERS

Modifiers come in the forms of words, phrases, and clauses and have the power to impact the
meaning of a sentence by adding clarity or detail. Adjectives and adverbs are familiar
modifiers, but they may also appear as adjectival or adverbial phrases or clauses.

What are the kinds of modifiers?

 Adjectival Clauses: act as an adjective; generally begin with relative pronoun (that,
which, who, whom, whose) or relative adverb (when, where, why).
o Ex. My brother-in-law, who works for NASA, lives in Madison.
 In this sentence, “who works for NASA” is the dependent clause describing
(or modifying) the noun “brother-in-law.”
 Adverbial Clauses: act as an adverb; generally answer how? when? or why? behind the
actions; generally begin with subordinating conjunctions.
SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
TIME after, when, until, soon, before
CONDITION if, whether or not, provided, in case, unless
because, as, since, so, in order that, now that,
CAUSE & EFFECT
inasmuch as
CONTRAST though, although, while, whereas, even though
 Ex. Because she didn’t have enough caramel in her coffee, Valerie didn’t enjoy the
coffee.
o In this example, “Because she didn’t have enough caramel in her coffee”
describes the why behind “Valerie didn’t enjoy the coffee.”
 Demonstratives: identify specific nouns that appear before the modified noun
o Ex. this semester; those hockey players; that season; these socks
 Possessive Adjectives & Pronouns: express possession; they’re related to possessive
pronouns.
Person Pronoun Adjective
1 st Mine My
Ours Our
2nd Yours Your
3rd Hers Her
His His
Its Its
Theirs Their
Adapted from the University of Victoria’s English Language Centre

 Prepositional Phrases: often express the relationship between nouns, including location.
o Ex. The hockey players in the penalty box were exciting the crowd.
What are some examples of errors writers make when using modifiers?

 Because modifiers can exist in the form of groups of words—phrases and clauses—it is
easy to misplace them in writing. Just like adjectives and adverbs need to be in the
correct location with respect to the nouns and verbs they modify, adjectival and
adverbial clauses, prepositional phrases, and other modifiers need to be placed such
that they correctly modify their intended words/groups of words.

COMMON ERRORS

“After camping in the forest”


is an adverbial phrase that
incorrectly modifies “the city
Ex. After camping A correction:
feels cold and mechanical.”
in the forest, the After camping in
DANGLING The city cannot camp in the
city feels cold and the forest, I feel like
MODIFIER forest. This is a dangling
mechanical. the city is cold and
modifier because the
mechanical
speaker (the pronoun that
should be modified), isn’t
included.
Ex. The university As it is currently written, this A correction:
officials also sentence suggests that the While having a
talked about astronomer is having a meeting about
MISPLACED hiring an meeting about parking. The parking, the
MODIFIER astronomer while modifier, which is supposed university officials
having a meeting to be clarifying what the also talked about
about parking. officials are supposed to be hiring an
talking about, is misplaced. astronomer.
Ex. Explaining the A correction:
argument clearly Here, “clearly” might modify Explaining the
AMBIGUOUS improves your either improving the argument clearly
MODIFIER chance of chances of success or will improve your
success. explaining the argument. chance of success.

For more help, visit a writing tutor. All appointments are available in-person at the Student
Success Center, located in the Library, or online. Resource adapted from the University of
Louisville Writing Center & the English Language Centre of the University of Victoria.

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