Lesson: English Grammar - 06

Modifying Phrases

Returning back to our original, basic sentence, we had "John buys a hat." The more complicated rendition was: "Wanting to cover up his bald spot, John, in spite of Jane's advice, buys a particular hat with red stitching."

One of the grammatical mechanisms which complicates the sentence is called a modifier. Modifiers can be as simple as adjectives and adverbs: you modify the word "car" when you call it a "red car." "Red" is the adjective which modifies "car." These one-word modifiers are not tested very often, but modifying phrases are. Modifying phrases are lengthier descriptions, often set aside from the main action of the sentence by a comma. In the second sentence, the modifying phrase comes at the beginning: "Wanting to cover up his bald spot." It's called a modifier because it modifies, or provides more information about, a person or thing in the sentence - usually its subject or object.

A modifying phrase will never actually contain the main sentence's subject or object, but it provides more information about that subject or object. Therefore, the modifying phrase doesn't make a whole lot of sense on its own; it's incomplete, waiting for someone or something to make sense of it. For this reason, the modifier always needs to be as close as possible to the person or thing that it modifies.

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