The term modifier refers to a general category of words, phrases, or clauses that describe, or modify, another word or group of words within a sentence. In the following examples, the modifier is in blue and the word(s) it describes is in green.
- His students rarely miss his lectures.
- The law tries to protect wildlife in the area.
- This is the town where Hemingway lived.
There are two common errors that students make with modifiers:
Misplaced Modifiers
Look at the following examples. Where are the modifiers? What are they trying to describe?
- She wore a hat on her head which was much too big.
- The students had almost read the whole novel by the end of the week.
- Crawling up my friend's leg, I saw a large cockroach.
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