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) 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. 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)