can someone please answer this?
By xcorederyl
@xcorederyl (26)
Philippines
December 9, 2008 6:00am CST
i need to answer this question..!! can someone help me? please?
where can we see the modifier before or after the word being described? EXPLAIN AND GIVE PROOFS..!!
ok tnx..! ^^
2 responses
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
9 Dec 08
I'm not quite sure what you want explained. A 'modifier' of a noun may be an adjective or an adjectival phrase; a modifier of a verb may be an adverb or an adverbial phrase.
If in doubt, try asking simple questions based on the sentence. For example:
"The agile monkey leapt swiftly from branch to branch"
What describes the monkey? The monkey was agile
What describes his action (leaping)? He leapt swiftly
An adjective or an adverb may, itself be modified with a comparitive or superlative modifier (e.g. 'most agile', 'very swiftly').
It can, of course, get a lot more complicated but breaking down a sentence in this way into its components and how they relate to the verb should usually help to resolve the problem.
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
9 Dec 08
As far as 'before' and 'after' is concerned, English generally (but not always) puts an adjective before the noun. The exceptions are to be found in such constructions as 'The monkey, agile and swift, leapt from branch to branch' (here the modifiers 'agile' and 'swift' both refer to the monkey rather than to the action and are contained in a phrase after the word they modify). The use of the verb 'to be' also puts the modifier after the word modified - e.g. 'The sky is blue' - in fact, this is the basis on which one can decide which words or phrases are modifiers ... "What is the monkey?", "How did he leap?", &c.
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
9 Dec 08
Word order is often used to give emphasis to a particular part or word.
Both of these sentences are correct English:
Swiftly, the agile monkey leapt from branch to branch
With swift and agile movements, the monkey leapt from branch to branch (Notice that 'With ... movements' now modifies the verb, not the noun! 'Swift' and 'agile' are both modifiers of 'movements' but the whole phrase is, in turn, an adverbial phrase modifying 'leapt'.)
@mikedotcom (260)
• United States
9 Dec 08
That poor homeless man is nasty! 'man' is being modified before by poor & homeless and after by nasty.
I saw the fat lil girl crying...'girl' is modified before and after.
did that help?
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
9 Dec 08
I think that in your last example 'crying' is not strictly a 'modifier' of 'girl'. It describes what the girl was doing rather than being a 'property' (in the sense that 'fat' and 'little' are). However, the whole phrase 'saw the little girl crying' is the predicate (modifier) of 'I', and in 'The girl was crying', 'was crying' is the predicate of 'the girl'.
I believe that the teaching of grammar has changed somewhat since my (largely pre-Chomsky) schooldays!
@mikedotcom (260)
• United States
10 Dec 08
yes, hmmmm...how 'bout-
The fat girl's blue eyes were red from crying?
not only was the girl: fat (before) she had blue eyes (after)
& also had eyes: blue (before) that were red (after).
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
10 Dec 08
"The fat girl's blue eyes were red from crying."
Fat girl
blue eyes
[were] red from crying eyes
blue eyes girl (because of the genitive case of girl) or [girl] [eyes], since we are referring primarily to the eyes.
'' = is a modifier of'
The subject of the verb 'were' is 'eyes' ... modifiers are that they belong to 'the fat girl' and that they were 'blue' and that they 'were red from crying'
'from crying' is a modifier of (explains why the eyes were) 'red'
That is one (not necessarily linguistically correct) way of looking at it.
