Modifiers

Lesson 4: Modifiers||
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Modifiers is all the other stuff in a sentence that is not a verb, subject, direct object, or complement.

Modifiers are not essential to the status of a sentence. Modifiers give more information about other parts of the sentence. Modifiers function adjectively (as adjectives) or adverbally (as adverbs). There are many types of modifiers, but we will deal with just three: Words, Prepositional Phrases, and Subordinate Conjunctions.


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1.WORDS:|
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These are modifiers that are simple adjectives or adverbs. Adjectives give more information about nouns and pronouns. Adverbs give more information about verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.


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2.PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE:|
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A prepositional phrase is a phrase (group of words) that starts with a preposition, and ends with a noun or pronoun that functions as an object, ex: in the bag, from you, down the road, over you. A prepositional phrase functions as an adjective or an adverb. In other words it is a modifier, and modifiers give more information about the subject, verb, and other words in the sentence.


Background:
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A preposition is an important part of speech. Just think of the word "position" in the word "preposition". Most prepositions state positions in time or space.(ex: about, above, across, after, against, among, around, and so on).

The most frequently used prepositions are: to, by, for, at, from, with, and of.

Complete list of prepositions:
About, above, across, after, against, along, among, around, as, as well as, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, besides, between, beyond, by, concerning, despite, down, during, except, for, from, in, into, like, near, next, of, off, on, onto, out, outside, opposite, over, past, regarding, round, since, than, through, throughout, till, to, toward, under, underneath, unlike, up, upon, with, within, without.



Examples of prepositional phrase:

1. The child from hell set fire to the curtains.
"from hell" is the prepositional phrase functioning as and adjective describing the noun "child".

2. She hid under the bed because the storm scared her.
"under the bed" is the prepositional phrase, this time functioning as and adverb modifying the verb "hid".





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3.SUBORDINATE CLAUSE:|
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Subordinate or dependent clauses are modifiers that begin with cue words that that are called subordinate conjunctions. A Subordinate clause begins with a subordinate conjunction. Subordinate clauses distinguish themselves from other modifiers by having a subject and a verb (ex: "who went by her self" or "although I could not speak"). Note that sometimes the cue word is also the subject.

LIST of subordinate conjunctions: after, although, as, because, before, even though, if, once, since, so that, than, though, unless, until, what, whatever, when, whenever, where, wherever, whether, which, while, who. whose, whoever, whom, whomever, why.


Background:
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A group of words containing both a subject and a verb is called a clause. There are two kinds of clauses. An independent clause is one which makes complete sense on its own. It can stand alone as a sentence. A subordinate or dependent clause, as its name suggests, cannot stand alone as a sentence; it depends on another clause to make complete sense. It is subordinate in status to a sentence.

Example:

1. The woman who wore a red suit sang the national anthem at the hockey game.
"who wore the red suit" is an adjective dependent clause modifying the noun "woman".

2. After Amy sneezed all over the tuna salad. (dependent clause)