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    Sentence Correction
  Introduction
  I: Three-Step Method to the Sentence Correction Questions
  II: Eight Types of Errors in the Sentence Correction Section
  III: Sample Questions  
IV: Fundamentals  
  V: Advanced Work
    Subject-Verb Agreement Advanced  
    Modifiers Advanced  
    Parallelism Advanced  
    Verb Time Sequence Advanced  
    Comparisons Advanced  

 

   

Modifiers Advanced
 


1. Sense Modifiers

Why "She is well" can be used to mean "She is healthy":

Because it doesn't contain a sense verb. Think of the question that prompts this kind of answer: "How is she?" The question doesn't ask what she is, but how she is: "How is she doing?" And what kind of modifier is used to answer a "how" question? An adverb.

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2. Misplaced Modifiers: Recognizing Descriptive Phrases

Descriptive phrases are not always set off by commas. These pronouns often indicate modifying phrases:

which (refers to things)
that
who (refers to people)
whose
whom

In addition to helping you identify modifying phrases, these pronouns can be helpful when you're trying to fix a seemingly incorrect sentence. Look at the examples below:

Sounds Funny: Joan's father, preferring meat to vegetables, made a breakfast of eggs and bacon every morning.

Better: Joan's father, who preferred meat to vegetables, made made a breakfast of eggs and bacon every morning.

Sounds Funny: Your tea kettle, having a leak in the bottom, was thrown away last week.

Better: Your tea kettle, which had a leak in the bottom, was thrown away last week.

Note the different uses of "who" and "which": "who" is used in the first example because it introduces a phrase that describes a person ("Joan's father"). "Which" is used to introduce a phrase that describes a thing (the "tea kettle"). "That" is also used to describe things, as opposed to people.

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Continue to Parallelism Advanced