modifier

A word, phrase, or clause that functions as an adjective or adverb to limit or qualify the meaning of another word or word group (called the head).

Modifiers that appear before the head are called premodifiers. Modifiers that appear after the head are called postmodifiers.

See also:

• Adjectival
• Adjective Clause
• Adjective Order
• Adjunct
• Adverb Clause
• Attributive Noun
• Compound Adjective
• Dangling Modifier
• Degree Modifier
• Downtoner
• Epithet
• Intensifier
• Misplaced Modifier
• Predeterminer
• Prepositional Phrase
• Qualifier
• Quantifier
• Resumptive Modifier
• Sentence Adverb
• Squinting Modifier
• Stacking
• Submodifier
• Summative Modifier

Exercises:

• Adding Adjectives and Adverbs to the Basic Sentence Unit
• Practice in Placing Modifiers Where They Belong
• Revising Sentences With Basic Modifiers
• Sentence Building With Simple Modifiers
• Sentence Combining With Basic Modifiers

Etymology:

Examples:

• "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
  (Humphrey Bogart as Rick in Casablanca, 1942)



• "As the leader of all illegal activities in Casablanca, I am an influential and respected man."
  (Sydney Greenstreet as Senor Ferrari in Casablanca



• "You can tell me now. I'm reasonably sober."
  (Rick in Casablanca)



• Major Strasser: What is your nationality?
  Rick: I'm a drunkard.
  Captain Renault: That makes Rick a citizen of the world.
  (Casablanca)



• "I'm an excellent housekeeper. Every time I get a divorce, I keep the house."
  (Zsa Zsa Gabor)



• "I met a girl who sang the blues
  and I asked her for some happy news,
  but she just smiled and turned away.
  And the three men I admire most,
  The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost,
  They caught the last train to the coast
  The day the music died."
  (Don McLean, "American Pie")



• "Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable ways it can change someone else's life forever."
  (Margaret Cho)



• "They scream your name at night in the street
  Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet
  And in the lonely cool before dawn
  You hear their engines roaring on
  But when you get to the porch they're gone
  On the wind, so Mary climb in
  It's a town full of losers
  And I'm pulling out of here to win."
  (Bruce Springsteen, "Thunder Road")