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Modifier Basics: Example: I'm Going To The Saturn Café For A Vegetarian Burger

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5 views2 pages

Modifier Basics: Example: I'm Going To The Saturn Café For A Vegetarian Burger

Uploaded by

Winsome T
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Modifier Basics

A modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that modifies—that is, gives information about—another
word in the same sentence. For example, in the following sentence, the word "burger" is
modified by the word "vegetarian":

Example: I'm going to the Saturn Café for a vegetarian burger.

• The modifier "vegetarian" gives extra information about what kind of burger it is.

A modifier can be an adjective (a word that modifies a noun, like "burger"), but it can also be
an adverb (a word that modifies a verb):

Example: The student carefully proofread her draft.

• The adverb "carefully" is the modifier in this example—it modifies the verb
"proofread," giving important details about how the proofreading was conducted.

A modifier can even be a phrase or clause, as in the following example:

Example: She studied in the library.

• Here, the phrase "in the library" gives us extra information about the verb,
"studied."

Modifiers can also be used for sentence variety. See this page on varying sentence structure for
more information.

Misplaced Modifiers
When a modifier is ambiguously or illogically modifying a word, we consider it a misplaced
modifier. See APA 7, Section 4.23 for more explanation and examples.

Example: Dolger discovered an ancient Mayan civilization using astronavigation.

• The modifier, "using astronavigation," is unclear in this sentence. Does it modify


"Dolger" or "civilization"? A reader will wonder, "Was Dolger using
astronavigation? Or was the civilization he discovered using astronavigation?"
Revision 1: Using astronavigation, Dolger discovered an ancient Mayan civilization.

• This modifier placement makes it clear that "Dolger" is the one using
astronavigation.

Revision 2: Dolger discovered an ancient Mayan civilization that used astronavigation.

• This modifier placement makes it clear that the "civilization" used


astronavigation.

Dangling Modifiers
When a modifier is not modifying a specific word, we call it a dangling modifier. See APA 7,
Section 4.23 for more explanation and examples.

Example: After consulting a selection of current publications, research in this area has been
sparse.

• In this example, it is not clear who is consulting the selection of current


publications. In other words, there is no referent in the sentence.

Revision 1: After consulting a selection of current publications, I determined that the


research in this area has been sparse.

• Now the subject in the sentence “I” matches the modifier “after consulting a
selection of current publications.”

Revision 2: According to the selection of current publications, research in this area has been
sparse.

• Now the modifier “according to the selection of current publications” matches the
subject “research.”

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