MODIFIERS

Adverbs and adjectives (and

phrases or clauses acting as
adverbs and adjectives, e.g.
prepositional phrases) are
modifiers.
 Modifiers limit ,describe, or
identify the words they
modify.

 Make ideas clear and exact.

EXAMPLES

 Adjectives modify nouns.

 He threw a stone.
 The naughty boy threw a sharp stone.

 Adverbs modify verbs.

 My brother repaired the radio.
 My brother carefully repaired the radio.
 An adverb modifies an adjective.
 Eight a.m. is a busy time.
 Eight a.m. is an unusually busy time.

 A prepositional phrase modifies a

noun.
 The girl plays the guitar.
 The girl in the red dress plays the guitar.
 CUATION

If modifiers are not used

carefully, the sentence might
be confusing.
TYPES OF PROBLEMATIC MODIFIERS

 Misplaced modifiers
 Dangling modifiers

 Two-way modifiers
MISPLACED MODIFIERS

 Modifiers which can be

misinterpreted because of their
inappropriate placement in a
sentence are termed as misplaced
modifiers.

 When a modifier is misplaced, your

meaning gets really fuzzy.
EXAMPLES

 On her way to work, Elaine saw the

silver woman’s earring laying on the
park bench.

 This sentence implies that there is a

silver woman who left her earring on
the park bench, not that the earring
itself is silver.
EXAMPLES

 On her way to work, Elaine saw the

woman’s silver earring laying on the
park bench.

 Now the earring is silver instead

of the woman.
EXAMPLES
 We drove off in the car we had just bought quickly.

 Did we buy the car quickly, or did we drive the car

quickly?

 We quickly drove off in the car we had just bought.

 Okay! We must have made a great deal and were afraid

the dealership would change its mind!
DANGLING MODIFIERS

 It has nothing in the main clause to

modify and is thus left dangling.
 Live things and machines do actions – if there is an
action verb in your sentence, there must also be a
living thing or a machine that does the action.
 Whenever you have dangling modifier, you must add
words to the sentence. Simply rearranging the
sentence will not fix the problem
EXAMPLES
 When in third grade, my mother went
back to college.

 This is a matter of logic – my mother could not have gone

back to college in 3rd grade.

 When I was in third grade, my mother

went back to college.
EXAMPLE
 Impressed by the newspaper stories,
war seemed inevitable.

 Who was impressed? The opening phrase needs

something to modify. So you add subject of the
main clause.

 Impressed by the newspaper stories,

we felt that war was inevitable.
SOLUTION

A sentence with a dangling verbal phrase

may be revised either by re-wording
the main clause or by expanding the
opening phrase into a subordinate
clause.
EXAMPLES

 To qualify for the position, a rigorous

examination must be passed.

 To qualify for the position, you must pass a

rigorous examination.
EXAMPLE

 After recording the information and filling the

forms, the Dean checked the papers to see if I
had followed the instructions.

 When I had recorded the information and filled in

the forms, the Dean checked the papers to see if I
had followed the instructions.
TWO-WAY MODIFIERS

 A two-way modifier may refer to

more than one person or thing
which makes it difficult to
understand what the wrier means.

 It occurs when a modifier appears to have two

words it can describe in a sentence.
Since the reader cannot determine which
word the writer intended to be modified,
the reader has two interpretations of the
sentence; therefore, the two-way modifier
creates a sentence without clear
meaning.
SOLUTION

 Thesolution to fixing a two-way

modifier is to move the modifier to
one word that it can clearly modify.
EXAMPLE

 The captain told his men at dawn the

enemy would attack.

 Did the captain tell his men at dawn, or will the

enemy attack at dawn?

Confusing!
REVISED SENTENCES

 At dawn the captain told his men

the enemy would attack.

 The captain told his men the

enemy would attack at dawn.
EXAMPLE

 Dad promised Mom over the holidays they

would remodel the kitchen.

 Did Dad promise over the holidays, or will they

remodel over the holidays?

Confusing!
REVISED SENTENCES

 Overthe holidays Dad told Mom

they would remodel the kitchen.

 Dad told Mom they would remodel

the kitchen over the holidays.
PRACTICE TIME
 Looking toward the west, a funnel shaped
cloud stirred up dust. (Incorrect)

 Looking toward the west, I saw a funnel

shaped cloud stir up dust. (Correct)

 Walking to the movies, the cloudburst

drenched Jim. (Incorrect)

 Walking to the movies, Jim was drenched by

the cloudburst. (Correct).
SOME MORE PRACTICE!

1. The fans stood in line to buy tickets for the

show for twenty minutes.
2. The salesman sold the picture to that woman in
the silver frame.
3. We gave the old clothes to a local charity that
had been piled up in the basement.
4. When nine years old, my father enrolled in
medical school.
5. Having been fixed the night before, Matt could
use the car.
6. After explaining that I had lost my wallet, the
waiter allowed me to pay by check.
7. James entered the room while I was watering
the plants with a cup of tea.
CORRECT ANSWERS

1. The fans stood in line for twenty minutes to

buy tickets for the show.
2. The salesman sold the picture in the silver
frame to that woman.
3. We gave the old clothes that had been piled
up in the basement to a local charity.
4. When I was nine years old, my father
enrolled in medical school
5. Since the car had been fixed the night
before, Matt could use it.
6. After I explained that I had lost my wallet, the
waiter allowed me to pay by check.
7. James entered the room with a cup of tea
while I was watering the plants.
Thanks