Sentence Modiers

Sentence modiers are sort of like adverbs, but instead of modifying the verb of the sentence, they modify the entire sentence. Here are the different types of sentence modiers:

Adverbs. Vocatives. Interjections. Subordinate Clauses. Absolute Clauses. Appositives.

Subordinate clauses can be considered a sentence modier if they affect the meaning of the entire sentence. Usually subordinate clauses that put some condition on the main assertion in the sentence are functioning as sentence modiers: Ill take Bonnie out now if you promise to walk her in the morning. I will take Bonnie for a walk now, although I would rather stay here. Provided that you get home by 7:00 p.m., Bonnie can easily stay alone during the day. If I were you, I would take her outside now. To punctuate these subordinate clause, simply follow these simple rules. 1. If the subordinate clause begins the sentence, always set it off with commas. 2. Do not set it off with commas if it ends the sentence unless the idea in the subordinate clause does not have much of an effect on the meaning of the main clause. In general, precede clauses that begin with even though and although with commas. Clauses that begin with if should have no comma. Absolute Clauses are special clauses that are formed from a clause that originally included a form of the verb be. In some cases, the absolute clause can be used to show a cause-effect relationship: Her food now completely gone, Bonnie started whining. The weather being cold and rainy, Bonnie refused to go outside to do her business. It is more common for absolute clauses to be used to describe a detail of a larger scene, as in these sentences: Her ears wet from having recently drunk from her water bowl, Bonnie rubbed her head on my shoulder. Her feet making little swishing movements, her eyes rolling about in their sockets, Sophie was obviously having a very active dream. Her hair a dripping mess from the recent rain, Charlie meowed pitifully.

Relative Clauses. Adverbs can considered sentence modiers when they clearly modify the entire sentence, as in these examples: Obviously, Bonnie has been in this room. Luckily, the side door was left unlocked. Hopefully, she will get housetrained soon. The word hopefully is sometimes thought to mean in a hopeful manner. But when this word is used at the beginning of a sentence, it usually means, I hope that . . . . Diagramming sentence modiers: Vocatives are nouns of address, such as in the following sentences: Bonnie, come here! I dont know, Fred. Mary, is that you? Watch your mouth, Buster! Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention? Interjections are extra words added to a sentence to express some emotion: Wow, that is very big piece of pie! Heavens to Betsy, I dont know how she got there. Gosh darn it, that makes me really mad! As you might imagine, there are many other less polite interjections that people commonly use when they are provoked.

Sentence Modifers Appositives can also work as sentence modiers when they are used at the end of the sentence in order to sum up the previous situation, as in these examples: At 8:30 p.m. Bonnie became sleepy and went upstairs to her kennel on her own--a surprising and welcome occurrence. Last week, it became clear that Bonnie was nally housetrained, her most major accomplishment to date. Relative clauses, the nal kind of sentence modier, work as sentence modiers in cases where they refer to more than just one noun phrase. Ordinarily, youll remember, the relative clauses modies a specic noun phrase. Our new beagle, which we got last January, is adapting nicely to life in our house. But sometimes the relative clause refers to some idea that is quite a bit broader. Our beagle started barking last week, which really surprised me. Bonnie was very quiet in the next room, which made me suspect she was up to no good. Her bark has a tendency to turn into a kind of bay, which can really get irritating. These kinds of relative clauses are sometimes called broad reference clauses. In careful writing they are rare, because, as the last example above illustrates, they can sometimes lead to vague or slopping writing.

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