Definition and Examples of Modifiers in English Grammar

In English grammar, a modifier is a  word, phrase, or clause that functions as an adjective or adverb to provide additional information about another word or word group (called the head). A modifier is also known as an adjunct. As illustrated below, modifiers in English include adjectives, adverbs, demonstratives, possessive determiners, prepositional phrases, degree modifiers, and intensifiers.   Modifiers that appear before the head are called premodifiers, while modifiers that appear after the head are called postmodifiers. Modifiers may be either restrictive (essential to the meaning of a sentence) or nonrestrictive (additional but not essential elements in a sentence). Examples of Different Modifier Usage Too many grammar terms in a row? Lets look at some examples. Authors  Gà ¼nter Radden and Renà © Dirven  illustrate the types with the most common ways that qualifying modifiers are used in Cognitive English Grammar. In all the examples here, the qualifiers modify the word detective and are in italics: (4a) Hercule Poirot is a  brilliant  detective.(4b)  Agatha Christies  detective Poirot is a legend all over the world.(4c) The detective  with the waxed moustache  solves the  most baffling  cases.(4d) Hercule Poirot is the  famous  detective  created by the English mystery writer Agatha Christie.(4e) Poirot is a detective  who has come to England as a war refugee.In sentence (4a), the adjective  brilliant  modifies the  predicate noun  detective.In sentence (4b), the head noun  detective  is modified by the complex  noun phrase  Agatha Christies, where the  genitive  morpheme  s  expresses the relation of possession.In sentence (4c), the noun  a detective  is modified by the  prepositional phrase  with the waxed moustache.In sentence (4d), two  nonrestrictive  modifiers are added to qualify the definite  referent  detective: the adjective  famous  and the  participial phrase  created by the English mystery-writ er Agatha Christie.In sentence (4e),  a detective  is modified by a  relative clause. Additional Examples of Modifier Types We could go further, to illustrate additional examples:   Hercule Poirot is a really good detective. The word really represents an intensifier for the adjective good. Really is an adverb, as it is modifying an adjective. Hercule Poirot is that detective. The word that is demonstrative. It distinguishes Poirot from at least one other detective. Hercule Poirot is the detective whos not wearing a deerstalker hat. The clause  is restrictive. The clause is essential to know which detective Poirot is, presumably from at least one detective who is wearing a deerstalker hat. The case was  almost  solved. The degree modifier (an adverb) shows how much of the case was solved. Instead of intensifying, degree modifiers qualify by giving the degree to which something is, like someone being fairly sure of something. Wearing a deerstalker hat, the murderer was caught by Sherlock Holmes. This clause represents a misplaced modifier  because it puts the hat on the murderers head instead of Holmes. If there were no subject of the sentence (eliminating by Sherlock Holmes), the opening phrase would be a  dangling modifier. Few detectives wear deerstalker hats. Few is a  quantifier, telling how many. Both Hercule Poirot and Sherlock homes are well-known detectives. The modifier is a  compound adjective. Source Radden, Gà ¼nter. Cognitive English Grammar. Cognitive Linguistics in Practice, Renà © Dirven, 2nd Edition, John Benjamins Publishing Company, July 5, 2007.