Mohamad Nizar (mohamadnizar66@gmail.com). Institut Teknologi Nasional (https://www.itenas.ac.

id/)

MODIFIERS
(An Introduction to the Study of Words in English Syntax)

I. Introduction
Previous articles explained that a group of lexemes is not a large and homogeneous
collection of words, but is the categories of nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, inflections,
modifiers, comparative adverbs, and complements. According to Newson et al (2004:5-6) that
lexemes are categories of words. A speech contains structured categories of words and can be
analyzed regarding the context of the words in phrases, clauses and sentences in a language system
(syntax). Newson et al (2004: 6-10) explained that word categories are divided into two typologies,
they are thematic and functional. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and prepositions are thematic
categories. Function categories are inflections, determiners, comparative adverbs, and
complements.
After observing nouns, group of nouns, and determiners, continue observing modifiers
which are also elements in a group of words for a sentence construction that can be arranged in a
complicated or sophisticated manner. The following linguistic symbols are for ease of reading this
paper:

|…| form of word

… intermission
* ungrammatical or unacceptable

II. Modifier
The main function of modifiers in noun groups is to mark or separate, expand, or
characterize the head (headword) in a phrase. The modifiers are also dependent elements on the
head and in this case, it is a one-way dependency. The discussion of modifiers cannot be explained
in detail here, so study the thoughts of Quirk (1992) and other references. Adjectives are the most
common modifiers in English, although they can have their own modifiers, as in (1). The adjective
|obligatory| marks, expands, or gives character to the noun headword |book|, but the adverb
modifier |undoubtedly| owned by the headword itself. Article determiner |an| in this group of
nouns, it has a modifying function that provides information about the indefinite quantity of the
headword. The case (1) is premodification, which comprises all the elements placed before the
head - notably adjective and noun (see Quirk, 1992:858).

(1) an undoubtedly obligatory book

The determiner precedes the modifier except when the modifier is preceded by |how|, |so|,
|too|, as in (2). The adjective |fine| marks the noun |story| and preceded by determiner article |a|.
Quirk (1992: 275-276, 926-927) explained that the adverb |so| as an intensifier that may premodify
an adjective |fine|. The intensifying adverb |so| shares constraints with the determiner article |a| in
the singular countable noun |story|. Due to the function of the article as a determiner for the head,
the adverb |fine| must move to the front of the article without losing its function as a classifier for
the head and instead of *a so fine story. This case is seen when showing ‘compliment’ or
‘admiration’ utterance. See Quirk (1992: 407), intensifier adverb |so| in ‘exclamatory’ utterance
cannot modify an adjective which itself has a premodifying function. Instead of *a how/so noisy
party, it should be what/such a noisy party.

(2) so fine a story!

Often in English, nouns are modified by other nouns, as in (3). Halliday et al (2014:364-
265) described the experiential elements of noun category groups which are subcategorized into
deictic, numeral, epithet, classifier, thing, and qualifier. The experiential elements can be studied
more extensively in functional grammar but this is only a short discussion of classifier and epithet.
The noun |brick| is a classifier, as a subcategory of noun or marks the head noun |wall|. A classifier
is an explanatory element that classifies heads based on type or variety. In English, classifiers can
be seen by nouns and adjectives. Be careful with a phrase like the fast train. The adjective |fast|
means an epithet if it accepts a degree comparison adjective. The classifier is related to semantics,
may be material meaning, scale and scope, purpose and function. The adjective |fast| may mean a
classifier if it does not accept degree comparison adjectives.

(3) the brick wall

The possessives in (4) to (7), in addition to functioning as determiners, can also function
as modifiers. Quirk (1992: 192-193, 902-903) explained that English nouns have a two-case
system: the marked genitive case (|boy's|, |Mozart's|, |children's|) as in (4) to (6) and the unmarked
genitive case or what is called the common case, like |boy|. This marked genitive case takes the
sentence position usually occupied by the determiner and also functions to mark the meaning of
the head words |parents|, |symphony|, and |hospital|. The case (6) is genitive possessive so it means
the parents have the boy or the father belongs to the child. The genitive origin appears in (7) so it
means the young Mozart composed a symphony or a symphony belonged to the young Mozart. The
descriptive genitive in (8) means a hospital for disabled children. It should be noted that if more
normal examples were used (his parents, his symphony, their hospital), they would deviate from
the constant non-restrictive function and - more importantly - change the relationship |his| / |their|:
in his father, his symphony, and their hospital, |his| and |their| form noun phrases and they then
premodify |father|, |symphony|, and |hospital|. Likewise, with (7), if it is interpreted as the Peter's
house or the house belongs to Peter, then it is interpreted as his house. The noun |house| appears
as a head modified by the possessive pronoun |his|.

(4) the boy's parents are in Canada

(5) the young Mozart's symphony
(6) a disabled children's hospital
(7) the house of Peter

III. Conclusion
The noun phrase, then, is potentially very complex indeed. By now enough, the paper has
not been said to give some clear indication of the relationship types of noun-phrase structure. By
means of the structures that have been developed in the noun phrase, the researchers can take an
indefinitely wide range of grammatical and semantic data. Even so coarse-grained a comparison
makes clear how sensitive the noun phrase is as an index of style and how responsive it can be to
the basic purpose and subject matter of any discourse.
Works Cited
Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen, C. 2014. Halliday’s Introduction to Functional Grammar (4th
ed.). Oxon: Routledge.
Newson, et.al. 2004. Basic English Sintax with Exercise. [accessed December 15, 2023].
http://primus.arts.u-szeged.hu/bese/contents.htm
Quirk, Randolf, et al. 1992. A Grammar of Contemporary English. Longman Singapore Publishers
Pte Ltd.