english IV- archimedes Language review

 Hi guys! 

       Here's your review on modifiers. This is just our intro for our review on misplaced and dangling modifiers. Please do check out your textbook for those topics ( if your text is with you; I left mine in the school). The link below also contains exercises on rewriting sentences containing misplaced and dangling modifiers, but please feel free to use any reference for your exercises.

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The Modifier

Modifiers are words, phrases ( a collection of words that may have nouns or verbals, but it does NOT have a subject doing a verb ,ie - leaving behind her books, because of the boy's energetic spirit), or clauses (a collection of words which has a subject that is actively doing a verb (ie - when I get the chance, which I borrowed ); 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 clause, adverbs, adverb clauses, absolute phrases, infinitive phrases, participial 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.

reference ©1997 - 2013 by Robin L. Simmons* (chompchomp.com/terms/modifier.htm)

you may also visit the site below for additional discussion and examples/exercises on dangling and misplaced modifiers

http://www.sophia.org/tutorials/all-about-modifiers