Modifier Flashcards
(36 cards)
When a participle phrase appears at the beginning of a sentence…
it must touch the noun it’s modifying
When a participle phrase appears in the middle of a sentence…
it must touch the noun it’s modifying
When a participle phrase appears at the end of a sentence separated by a comma…
It can modify either the subject of the sentence or the clause preceding it
e.g., Bees fly from flower to flower, making a soft buzzing sound.
→ “Bees” is the agent of the participle “making”
→ The present participial phrase modifies the entire preceding clause
Where can modify a physical place, but not a metaphorical place.
- Incorrect: We had an arrangement where he cooked and I cleaned.
- Correct: We had an arrangement in which he cooked and I cleaned.
Which can only be used to modify nouns. Use which only to refer to the noun immediately preceding it and never use it to refer to an entire clause.
- Incorrect: Crime has recently decreased in our neighborhood, which has led to a rise in property values.
- Correct: The recent decrease in crime in our neighborhood has led to a rise in property values.
Limiting words
- Examples: merely, only, just, even, almost, exactly, nearly, hardly
- Placement impacts meaning:
- I ate only fruits for two weeks.
- I only ate fruits for two weeks. → Illogical (meaning I did no other activities other than eating fruits)
Misplaced Prepositional Phrase
A modifying prepositional phrase must always be as close as possible to the word that it modifies.
Example #1:
- Incorrect: Every Saturday afternoon, the men who lived in the senior home on Kimball Avenue played cards in the park under a tree.
- Correct: Every Saturday afternoon, the men who lived in the senior home on Kimball Avenue played cards under a tree in the park.
Example #2:
- Incorrect: The nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius in two letters to the historian Tacitus. → Suggests that Vesuvius erupted in the letters themselves.
- Correct: In two letters to the historian Tacitus, the nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius.
Prepositional Phrases of Time
- Unclear: The board of directors said in 2020 the price of the company’s products would need to double.
- Correct Scenario #1: In 2020, the board of directors said the price of the company’s products would need to double.
- Correct Scenario #2: The board of directors said the price of the company’s products would need to double in 2020.
Limiting Adverb Placement
Generally, the best placement of a limiting adverb is immediately before the word or phrase it is meant to modify.
- Let’s say we want to communicate that our golf team practices on Monday, but not on other days
- The team practices only on Mondays.
Noun Modifier Placement
A noun modifier must be placed as closely as possible to what it modifies.
- Incorrect: The man is upstairs who was wearing the red scarf.
- Correct: The man who was wearing the red scarf is upstairs.
Squinting Modifier
When a modifier is placed between two words or expressions, either of which it could modify, the conveyed meaning can be ambiguous.
- Unclear: People who train consistently achieve score increases.
- Clear Scenario #1: People who consistently train achieve score increases.
- Clear Scenario #2: People who train achieve score increases consistently.
Relative Pronouns
Who, whom, whose, which, why, when, where, that
Relative Pronoun: “That” vs. “Which”
- “That” and “Which” refer to nouns that represent things other than people. Never use those to represent people (use “who” or “whom”)
- Use “that” to introduce restrictive relative clause
- Use “which” to introduce nonrestrictive relative clause
That vs. Which Example
Schistosomiasis, a disease caused by a parasitic worm, is prevalent in hot, humid climates, and it has become more widespread as irrigation projects have enlarged the habitat of the freshwater snails that are the parasite’s hosts for part of its life cycle
- Not: freshwater snails which become the hosts of the parasite during the parasite’s life cycles
- Life cycle has to be singular (parasite is singular)
Restrictive Relative Clause
Somehow restricts the meaning of the noun that the restrictive relative clause modifies. Thus, the info that the restrictive relative clause adds is essential to the meaning of the sentence.
- Use THAT
- e.g., The juice that is frozen lasts for months.
Nonrestrictive Relative Clause
Doesn’t restrict the meaning of the noun that it modifies. Thus, the info that a nonrestrictive relative clause adds is not vital to the sentence’s meaning.
- Use WHICH
- e.g., Mount Everest, which is the tallest mountain on Earth, has lured adventure seekers since the early 1900s.
Restrictive vs. Nonrestrictive Trick
- To determine whether a relative clause is restrictive or nonrestrictive, eliminate it from the sentence. If it can be eliminated without the core meaning of a sentence changing, it is nonrestrictive and will use the pronoun WHICH.
- Nonrestrictive relative clauses must always be set off from the rest of the sentence by commas.
- e.g., The new phone model, which utilizes two cameras to take photos, is available in an array of colors.
Remote Relative Clause: Scenario #1
Sometimes, a relative clause can be separated from the noun that it modifies. Note that there’s a difference between “remote” vs. “misplaced.”
Scenario #1: A relative clause may be separated from the noun that it modifies by another modifier, such as a prepositional phrase or appositive.
- e.g., The town on the island, which is a sleepy seaside village, attracts many tourists each summer. (modifies the big noun “the town on the island”)
- e.g., (Appositive) Investors are reluctant to take positions even at current price levels, 52-week lows for stocks in key sectors, which, analysts caution, may not represent the bottom of the downward trend.
Remote Relative Clause: Scenario #2
Sometimes, a relative clause can be separated from the noun that it modifies. Note that there’s a difference between “remote” vs. “misplaced.”
Scenario #2: A relative clause may be separated from the noun that it modifies by the main verb of the sentence. BUT the main verb needs to be in one of certain categories (e.g., indicate arrival, positioning, and coming into being)
- e.g., Even as we speak, solar panels are being developed that will generate power much more efficiently than any panels in use today.
Remote Relative Clause: Shortest logical target
A relative clause placed after a structure that contains multiple nouns is understood to modify the shortest logical target.
- e.g., The most beautiful house in the valley, which was built last summer, is not overly large. → modifies the “house in the valley” not valley
- e.g., The most beautiful house in the valley, which runs between two mountains, is not overly large. → modifies the “valley”
Relative Pronoun: “Who” vs. “Whom”
- Both are used to refer to people
- Who: subject pronoun (performs an action)
- Whom: object pronoun (is acted upon)
- Trick: Substitute with easy pronouns (e.g., he vs. him)
- e.g., The woman’s sister, the one whom we thought to be friendly, was my friend.
Entities: Use “that” or “which”
Entities made up of people such as teams, groups, or classes, are considered things when the context treats such an entity as a single unit → use “that” or “which”
Whose
- Can refer to things or people
- The English language’s only possessive relative pronoun
- e.g., the town whose water supply was contaminated
Appositive
An appositive is an element of a sentence that modifies or further describes another element of a sentence by renaming it.
- Generally appear in the forms of nouns, pronouns, noun phrases, or noun clauses that modify other nouns, pronouns, noun phrases, or noun clauses
- Identifying an appositive: If, when we replace a noun in a sentence with its modifier, the sentence retains its core meaning, the noun modifier is an appositive.
