Transcript Modifiers- comparisions dangling

Modifiers
A modifier is a word or word group that
makes the meaning of another word or
word group more specific. The two kinds
of modifiers are adjectives and adverbs.
Adjectives…
 Modify nouns or pronouns
 Which one? The lonely cat wandered
around.
 What kind? The American flag is flying
high.
 How many? She wears three rings on her
left hand.
Adverbs
 Can modify verbs, adverbs, and
adjectives
 How? The car goes fast.
 When? We will go tomorrow.
 Where? The book is there.
 To What Extent? She is very unhappy.
Bad and Badly
 Bad is an adjective. In most uses, badly
is an adverb.
 The dog was bad.
 The dog behaved badly.
**Remember that a word that modifies the
subject of a verb should be in adjective form.
NONSTANDARD: The stew tasted badly.
STANDARD: The stew tasted bad.
Good and Well
 Good is an adjective. It should not be
used to modify a verb.
 Well may be used either as an adjective
or as an adverb. As an adjective, well
has two meanings: “in good health” and
“satisfactory.”
Good and Well
 NONSTANDARD: He speaks Italian
good.
 STANDARD: He speaks Italian well.
 STANDARD: His Italian sounds good.
(Good is an adjective that modified the
noun Italian.)
 John is well. (John is in good health.)
 All is well. (All is satisfactory.)
 They did well in the tryouts.
Slow and Slowly
 Slow is used as both an adjective and an
adverb. Slowly is an adverb. In most
adverb uses, it is better to use slowly
than to use slow.
 We took a slow drive through the
countryside. (modifies drive)
 The train slowly came to a stop. (modifies
how the train stopped)
Real and Really
 Real is an adjective meaning “actual” or
“genuine.” Really is an adverb meaning
“actually” or “Truly.” Although real is commonly
used as an adverb meaning “very” in everyday
situations, avoid using it in formal speaking and
writing.
 Formal: He batted really well in the game.
 Informal: He batted real well in the game.
Correct? (textbook pg.
576)
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You have done very good today, Marcia.
The nurse shark was moving very slow over the seabed.
The fireworks exploded with a real loud bang.
The team did not play badly, but they lost anyway.
James thinks that Jakob Dylan is a well singer.
The box was not damaged too bad when it fell.
The turtle is very slowly on land, but it is much faster
underwater.
Is that really Sammy Sosa’s autograph?
Even if your day is going bad, getting angry at me will not help.
Slowly but surely, the fawn improved until it could run real good.
Comparisons
 Positive: good; young; fearful
 Comparative: better; younger; more
fearful
 Superlative: best; youngest; most fearful
Write the comparative and
superlative forms of the
following words.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Fast
Happy
Simple
Safe
Calm
Soon
Careful
Hazy
Wisely
Pretty
 Positive: helpful
 Comparative: less helpful
 Superlative: least helpful
Irregular Comparisons
 Positive: bad; good/well; many/much
 Comparative: worse; better; more
 Superlative: worst; best; most
Misplaced modifiers
 Misplaced modifiers are modifiers that are positioned
so that they appear to modify the wrong thing.
 In general, you should place single-word modifiers near
the word or words they modify, especially when a
reader might think that they modify something different
in the sentence. Consider the following sentence:
 [WRONG] After our conversation lessons, we could
understand the Spanish spoken by our visitors from
Madrid easily.
 Do we understand the Spanish easily, or do the visitors
speak it easily? This revision eliminates the confusion:
 [RIGHT] We could easily understand the Spanish
spoken by our visitors from Madrid.
Dangling Modifiers
 The dangling modifier is often (though
not always) located at the beginning of a
sentence. A dangling modifier is usually a
phrase that functions as an adjective but
does not modify any specific word in the
sentence, or (worse) modifies the wrong
word. Consider the following example:
 Raised in Nova Scotia, it is natural to
miss the smell of the sea.
 The introductory phrase in the above sentence looks as if it is
meant to modify a person or persons, but no one is mentioned in
the sentence. Such introductory adjective phrases, because of
their position, automatically modify the first noun or pronoun that
follows the phrase -- in this case, "it." The connection in this case
is illogical because "it" was not raised in Nova Scotia. You could
revise the sentence in a number of ways:
 For a person raised in Nova Scotia, it is natural to miss the
smell of the sea. (the phrase no longer functions as an adjective)
 Raised in Nova Scotia, I often miss the smell of the sea. (the
phrase functions as an adjective but now automatically modifies
"I," a logical connection)