5b(2). Modification

1. Errors in the Use of Adjectives and Adverbs.

Check if a word modifier is an ADJECTIVE or an ADVERB. Make sure the correct form has been used.

• An ADJECTIVE describes a noun and answers the questions: how many, which one, what kind?

She is a good tennis player. (What kind of tennis player?)

• An ADVERB describes either a verb or an adjective and answers the questions: when, where, why, in what manner, and to what extent?
  
  She plays tennis well. (She plays tennis how?) This exercise is relatively easy. (How easy?)

Most adverbs are formed by adding -ly to the adjective, such as: He worked quickly.

EXCEPTIONS: the following irregular adverbs do not end in -ly

Adjective	Adverb
early fast good hard late	early fast well hard (hardly means almost not) late (lately means recently)

      

INCORRECT: She is a real good swimmer.
CORRECT: She is a really good swimmer.

"really" acts as an adverb to modify the adjective "good"

INCORRECT: The new student speaks bad.
CORRECT: The new student speaks badly.

"Badly" is an adverb modifying how the student speaks.

 

2. Errors of Adjectives with Verbs of Sense.
The following verbs of sense are described by ADJECTIVES:

be

look

smell

taste

feel

seem

INCORRECT: After the three-week vacation, she looked very well.
CORRECT: After the three-week vacation, she looked very good.

NOTE: "She is well" is also correct in the meaning of "She is healthy" or in describing a person's well-being.

INCORRECT: The strawberry shortcake tastes deliciously.
CORRECT: The strawberry shortcake tastes delicious.

3. Location of Modification

What's wrong with this sentence?

Finally thinking clearly, the book was able to be understood by Rebecca.

This sentences makes it sound as if the book was thinking clearly, not Rebecca who was reading it. This is because the modifier "Finally thinking clearly" is not immediately followed by what it is modifying: Rebecca.

What is a modifier?

A modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that describes another part of the sentence. You should place a modifier as close as possible to what it is modifying. Misplaced modifiers often inadvertently change the meaning of sentences when they appear to modify words that they aren't meant to modify.

• Try this next example.
  
  INCORRECT: On arriving at the train station, his friends greeted Jay and took him immediately to his speaking engagement in Springfield.

  This sounds as if the friends arrived at the train station. The modifier must go right next to what it is modifying: Jay. The sentence can we correctly written as:
  
  CORRECT: On arriving at the train station, Jay was greeted by his friends who immediately took him to his speaking engagement in Springfield.
  
  When rewritten this way, the modifier "On arriving at the train station" comes right next to "Jay", the person it is describing.
  
  Test writers often utilize tricks to confuse students with modification:

• • That/which clauses, especially ones that come at the end of sentences
  • Sentences beginning or ending with descriptive phrases

Tricks: note that its is a possessive of it, and it's is the contraction of it and is.

>>continue to Grammar: Pronouns (page 3 of 12 Chapter 5b)