Adjective Modifier

In grammar, a modifier (or qualifier) is an optional element in phrase structure or clause

structure[1]; the removal of the modifier typically doesn't affect the grammaticality of the
construction. Modifiers can be a word, a phrase or an entire clause. Semantically,
modifiers describe and provide more accurate definitional meaning for another element.

In English, adverbs and adjectives prototypically function as modifiers, but they also
have other functions. Moreover, other constituents can function as modifiers as the
following examples show (the modifiers are in bold):

• [Put it gently in the drawer]. (adverb in verb phrase)

• She set it down [very gently]. (adverb in adverb phrase)
• He was [very gentle]. (adverb in adjective phrase)
• [Even more] people were there. (adverb in determiner phrase)
• It ran [right up the tree]. (adverb in prepositional phrase)
• It was [a nice house]. (adjective in noun phrase)
• His desk was in [the faculty office]. (noun in noun phrase)
• [The swiftly flowing waters] carried it away. (verb phrase in noun phrase)
• I saw [the man whom we met yesterday]. (clause in noun phrase)
• She's [the woman with the hat]. (preposition phrase in noun phrase)
• It's not [that important]. (determiner in adjective phrase)
• [A few more] workers are needed. (determiner in determiner phrase)
• We've already [gone twelve miles]. (noun phase in verb phrase)
• She's [two inches taller than I]. (noun phrase in verb adjective phrase)

A premodifier is a modifier placed before the head (the modified component). A

postmodifier is a modifier placed after the head, for example:

• land mines (pre-modifier)

• mines in wartime (post-modifier)

Modifiers are words, phrases, or clauses that provide description in sentences. Modifiers
allow writers to take the picture that they have in their heads and transfer it accurately to
the heads of their readers. Essentially, modifiers breathe life into sentences. Take a look
at this "dead" sentence:

Stephen dropped his fork.

Now read what several well placed modifiers can do:

Poor Stephen, who just wanted a quick meal to get through his three-hour biology lab,
quickly dropped his fork on the cafeteria tray, gagging with disgust as a tarantula wiggled
out of his cheese omelet, a sight requiring a year of therapy before Stephen could eat eggs
again.

Modifiers can be adjectives, adjective clauses, adverbs, adverb clauses, absolute phrases,
infinitive phrases, participle phrases, and prepositional phrases. The sentence above
contains at least one example of each:

Adjective = poor.

Adjective clause = who just wanted a quick meal.

Adverb = quickly.

Adverb clause = as a tarantula wiggled out of his cheese omelet.

Absolute phrase = a sight requiring a year of therapy before Stephen could eat eggs again.

Infinitive phrase = to get through his three-hour biology lab.

Participle phrase = gagging with disgust.

Prepositional phrase = on the cafeteria tray.

Without modifiers, sentences would be no fun to read. Carefully chosen, well-placed

modifiers allow you to depict situations with as much accuracy as words will allow.

Adjectives describe nouns by answering one of these three questions: What

kind is it? How many are there? Which one is it? An adjective can be
a single word, a phrase, or a clExamples and Observations:

• "Realizing the importance of the case, my men are rounding up twice the usual
number of suspects."
(Captain Renault in Casablanca)

• "I'm an excellent housekeeper. Every time I get a divorce, I keep the house."
(Zsa Zsa Gabor)

• "I met a girl who sang the blues

and I asked her for some happy news,
but she just smiled and turned away.
And the three men I admire most,
The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost,
 They caught the last train to the coast
The day the music died."
(Don McLean, "American Pie")

• "Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable ways it can change
someone else's life forever."
(Margaret Cho)

• "A distinction is made between pre-modification (modifying by preceding) and

post-modification (modifying by following). In diamond mines in South Africa,
diamond is a pre-modifier and in South Africa is a post-modifier."
(Sidney Greenbaum, The Oxford Companion to the English Language, Oxford
University Press, 1992)

• "They scream your name at night in the street

Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet
And in the lonely cool before dawn
You hear their engines roaring on
But when you get to the porch they're gone
On the wind, so Mary climb in
It's a town full of losers
And I'm pulling out of here to win."
(Bruce Springsteen, "Thunder Road")

Adverb - as an adjective-modifier: Encyclopedia II - English grammar -

Adjectives and adverbs

Adjectives are modifiers for nouns and adverbs are modifiers for verbs, adjectives, and
other adverbs. Not all languages distinguish them, but English does in both grammar and
word formation. Grammatically, adjectives precede the noun they modify, whereas
adverbs might precede or follow the verb they modify, depending upon the specific
adverb.

Modifiers
1. The poor horse has a heavy load.

2. The train runs rapidly.

3. Admiral Dewey is a man of courage.

4. The time for play has passed.

5. What is the name of the book which you are reading?

6. While he was still speaking, several persons left the hall.

In the above sentences, the words poor and heavy qualify or limit the meaning of the
words horse and load; rapidly limits runs; of courage describes man; for play modifies or
limits time; which you are reading modifies or limits hook; while he was still speaking
modifies or limits left.

What kind of modifiers are poor and heavy?

What kind of modifier is rapidly?

What kind of modifiers are of courage, and for play?

What kind of modifiers are which you are reading, and while he was still speaking?

How do these last two modifiers differ?

We see from what has just been studied that the groups of words used as modifiers make
either phrases or clauses. (See modifier, p. 9.)

Modifiers may be either adjective or adverbial, according to the kind of words modified.

Point out the modifiers in the following sentences, tell what kind of modifiers they are,
and the words that they modify:

1. The old trees were covered with rough bark.

2. The flowers which we gathered were a delight to the eye.

3. When the wind blows, the cradle will rock.

4. We planted the trees where the soil was deep.

5. It is obvious why you did not come.

6. A swift little brook flowed over the pebbles.

7. I bought the book which you recommended.

8. In a clear winter night the stars shine like diamonds.

9. The roar of the lion was heard in the distance.

10. While the robbers were plundering, she set fire to the house.

Write three sentences having adjectives for modifiers both in the subject and predicate,
three having adjective phrases, and three having adjective clauses.

Write three sentences having adverbs for modifiers, three having adverbial phrases, and
three having adverbial clauses.

Find all the adjective modifiers on some page of your reader.

Write the words, phrases, and clauses used as adjective modifiers, in separate columns.
Do the same work for the adverbial modifiers on the same page.
 DAFTAR PUSTAKA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_modifier
http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/modifier.htm
http://grammar.about.com/od/mo/g/modterm.htm
http://www.experiencefestival.com/adverb_-_as_an_adjective-modifier
http://www.testden.com/toefl/english-grammar-for-
students/Modifiers.html