modifier

CLAUSE AS MODIFIER

Asked to Meet One Of The Tasks The End Semester One Courses of English which is Guided By

Drs Muhammad Rifa’i M.A

Oleh :

WAHYU DWI UTAMI

NIM. 16520020

STUDY OF RELIGIONS MAJOR USHULUDDIN AND ISLAMIC THOUGHT FACULTY

ISLAMIC STATE UNIVERSITY SUNAN KALIJAGA YOGYAKARTA

2016

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the paper

The basic purpose of an adverb clause modifier is to provide further information about a subject. In the case of adverb clauses, they usually answer the question of when, where, how, to what extent, or under what conditions. They are very common in every day speech and, after reviewing a few examples, they are easy to identify in a sentence.

The adverb clause includes both a noun and a verb but it cannot stand alone as its own sentence. Adverb clauses must always begin with a subordinating conjunction.

Problem Formulation

1.      What is the defining about clause modifier?

2.      What are the examples of clause modifier?

3.      How the way to identying an adverb clause modifier?

4.      What are the importance of adverb clause modifier?

CHAPTER II

DISCUSSION

A.    Definition of Modifier

In grammar, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure. A modifier is so called because it is said to modify (change the meaning of) another element in the structure, on which it is dependent. Typically the modifier can be removed without affecting the grammar of the sentence. For example, in the English sentence This is a red ball, the adjective red is a modifier, modifying the noun ball. Removal of the modifier would leave This is a ball, which is grammatically correct and equivalent in structure to the original sentence.

Other terms used with a similar meaning are qualifier (the word qualify may be used in the same way as modify in this context), attribute, and adjunct. These concepts are often distinguished from complements and arguments, which may also be considered dependent on another element, but are considered an indispensable part of the structure. For example, in His face became red, the word red might be called a complement or argument of became, rather than a modifier or adjunct, since it cannot be omitted from the sentence.

Premodifiers and postmodifiers

Modifiers may come either before or after the modified element (the head), depending on the type of modifier and the rules of syntax for the language in question. A modifier placed before the head is called a premodifier; one placed after the head is called a postmodifier. For example, in land mines, the word land is a premodifier of mines, whereas in the phrase mines in wartime, the phrase in wartime is a postmodifier of mines. A head may have a number of modifiers, and these may include both premodifiers and postmodifiers. For example:

·         that nice tall man from Canada whom you met

In this noun phrase, man is the head, nice and tall are premodifiers, and from Canada and whom you met are postmodifiers.

Notice that in English, simple adjectives are usually used as premodifiers, with occasional exceptions such as galore (which always appears after the noun) and the phrases time immemorial and court martial (the latter comes from French, where most adjectives are postmodifiers). Sometimes placement of the adjective after the noun entails a change of meaning: compare a responsible person and the person responsible, or the proper town (the appropriate town) and the town proper (the area of the town as properly defined).

It is sometimes possible for a modifier to be separated from its head by other words, as in The man came who you bumped into in the street yesterday, where the relative clause who...yesterday is separated from the word it modifies (man) by the word came. This type of situation is especially likely in languages with free word order.

Types of modifier

The two principal types of modifiers are adjectives (and adjectival phrases and adjectival clauses), which modify nouns; and adverbs (and adverbial phrases and adverbial clauses), which modify other parts of speech, particularly verbs, adjectives and other adverbs, as well as whole phrases or clauses. (Not all adjectives and adverbs are necessarily modifiers, however; an adjective will normally be considered a modifier when used attributively, but not when used predicatively – compare the examples with the adjective red at the start of this article.)

Another type of modifier in some languages, including English, is the noun adjunct, which is a noun modifying another noun (or occasionally another part of speech). An example is land in the phrase land mines given above.

Examples of the above types of modifiers, in English, are given below.

·         It was [a nice house]. (adjective modifying a noun, in a noun phrase)

·         [The swiftly flowing waters] carried it away. (adjectival phrase, in this case a participial phrase, modifying a noun in a noun phrase)

·         She's [the woman with the hat]. (adjectival phrase, in this case a prepositional phrase, modifying a noun in a noun phrase)

·         I saw [the man whom we met yesterday]. (adjectival clause, in this case a relative clause, modifying a noun in a noun phrase)

·         His desk was in [the faculty office]. (noun adjunct modifying a noun in a noun phrase)

·         [Put it gently in the drawer]. (adverb in verb phrase)

·         He was [very gentle]. (adverb in adjective phrase)

·         She set it down [very gently]. (adverb in adverb phrase)

·         [Even more] people were there. (adverb modifying a determiner)

·         It ran [right up the tree]. (adverb modifying a prepositional phrase)

·         [Only the dog] was saved. (adverb modifying a noun phrase)

In some cases, noun phrases or quantifiers can act as modifiers:

·         [A few more] workers are needed. (quantifier modifying a determiner)

·         She's [two inches taller than her sister]. (noun phrase modifying an adjective)

Ambiguous and dangling modifer

                        Sometimes it is not clear which element of the sentence a modifier is intended to modify. In many cases this is not important, but in some cases it can lead to genuine ambiguity. For example:

·         He painted her sitting on the step.

                        Here the participial phrase sitting on the step may be intended to modify her (meaning that the painting's subject was sitting on the step), or it may be intended to modify the verb phrase painted her or the whole clause he painted her (or just he), meaning in effect that it was the painter who was sitting on the step.

Sometimes the element which the modifier is intended to modify does not in fact appear in the sentence, or is not in an appropriate position to be associated with that modifier. This is often considered a grammatical or stylistic error. For example:

·         Walking along the road, a vulture loomed overhead.

Here whoever was "walking along the road" is not mentioned in the sentence, so the modifier (walking along the road) has nothing to modify, except a vulture, which is clearly not the intention. Such a case is called a "dangling modifier", or more specifically, in the common case where (as here) the modifier is a participial phrase, a "dangling participle".[1]

B.     Examples of Dangling Modifiers

A modifier does exactly what it sounds like: it changes, alters, limits, or adds more info to something else in the sentence. A modifier is considered dangling when the sentence isn't clear about what is being modified. For example, "The big" doesn't make sense without telling what is big which leaves "big" as a dangling modifier; but, "the big dog" is a complete phrase.

How Modifiers Dangle

Since a modifier has to more information about something, by definition that means the something it is modifying or limiting has to exist. That means, of course, that you can't just say The happy. If you did, people would immediately ask you: "the happy what?" That missing what is the thing being modified.

It seems pretty obvious and intuitive when written in a simple sentence, and it seems hard to imagine a situation in which a modifier would be left dangling. However, modifiers don't always have to be simple words or phrases like happy, and sentences aren't always simple.

Phrases can also act as modifiers, providing additional information about something else in the sentence. When this occurs, and when sentences become more complex, dangling modifiers can sometimes exist and get lost in the complexity of the language.

Correcting Dangling Modifiers

·         Hoping to garner favor, my parents were sadly unimpressed with the gift.

Problem: This is a dangling modifier because we do not know who or what was hoping to garner favor. It is unlikely that the parents were hoping to garner favor, since they wouldn't have given an unimpressive gift to themselves.

Correction: This sentence could be corrected by adding a proper subject, or identifying the person who was hoping to win over the parents. For example,

Hoping to garner favor, my new boyfriend brought my parents a gift that sadly unimpressed them.

Now, the modifier is no longer dangling, since the subject- or the person- who is hoping to garner favor is identified.

·         Hoping to excuse my lateness, the note was written and given to my teacher.

Problem: Here, it seems as though we have a subject- my. However, my is part of the modifier and not the subject itself.Correction: We need a subject that is modified by hoping to excuse my lateness, since obviously the note didn't have those hopes.

Hoping to excuse my lateness, I wrote a note and gave it to my teacher.

Now, the problem is resolved. I am the person who is hoping to excuse my lateness, so I wrote a note and gave it to my teacher. My note may not get me out of trouble, but at least I won't also have bad grammar!

·         After reading the great new book, the movie based on it is sure to be exciting

Problem: Again, we are left wondering exactly who read the great new book. The phrase can't possibly be modifying the movie, since the movie can't read.Correction: A subject must be added so the modifier has something to describe, change or limit.

After reading the great new book, Anna thought the movie based on it was sure to be exciting.

Now that you've seen some examples of dangling modifiers, it should be pretty easy to see how often this problem can crop up unnoticed. The best way to avoid this grammatical error is to ask yourself exactly what is being described or modified by the phrase or word. If you don't have an answer, you may be facing a modifier that is dangling.

Modifiers 101

A modifier modifies or provides more information. In grammar, adverbs and adjectives are both modifiers. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. For example:

·         The very happy boy ran fast.

Happy is an adjective modifying the noun boy. Very is an adverb modifying the adjective happy

·         The boy ran very quickly.

Very is an adverb modifying quickly. Quickly is an adverb modifying the verb ran

Modifiers must be as close as possible to the thing they are modifying. Otherwise, confusion can result. For example, it wouldn't make a lot of sense to say "The very quickly boy ran", since very quickly are not modifying or describing boy.[2]

C.     Identifying an Adverb Clause Modifier

Finding an adverb clause modifier in a sentence is not difficult. Reviewing the sentence while asking yourself some questions will make it easy to spot.

For example:

·         Determine if the sentence contains a subordinating conjunction.

·         If it does, make sure the phrase beginning with the subordinating conjunction has both a noun and a verb. 

·         Decide if the phrase answers one of the tell-tale questions: when, where, how, to what extent, or under what conditions.

·         Circle, underline, or highlight the adverb clause modifier so that it stands out.

·         Congratulations! You have found an adverb clause modifier!

D.    Importance of Adverb Clause Modifiers

Adverb clause modifiers add flavor to the sentence in several ways including:

·         To add specificity to otherwise rather vague and ambiguous phrases - You could write "She would be punished." Yet if you read that sentence, wouldn't you want to know why she was facing the possibility of being punished? By adding the adverb clause modifier "If she didn't wash the dishes" the reason for the punishment becomes clear.

·         To add details and set a scene - You could write "The dog ran around the house." By adding the adverb clause modifier of "while the cat took a nap," the adverb clause modifier creates a context, and elaborates on the story.[3]

CHAPTER III

CONCLUSION

Modifiers can be adjectives, adjective clauses, adverbs, adverb clauses,absolute phrases, infinitive phrases,participle phrases, and prepositional phrases. Without modifiers, sentences would be no fun to read. Carefully chosen, well-placed modifiers allow you to depict situations with as much accuracy as words will allow.

REFERENCES

“Definition of Modifier”.  January 1, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_modifier

“Examples of Dangling Modifiers”. January 1, 2017. http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-dangling-modifiers.html.

“How to Find an Adverb Clause Modifier”. January 1, 2017. http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/parts-of-speech/adverbs/how-to-find-adverb-clause-modifier.html.

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[1] Definition of Modifier. Accessible from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_modifier. On January 1, 2017. At 13.53 WIB

[2] Examples of Dangling Modifiers. Accessible from http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-dangling-modifiers.html. On January 1, 2017. At 13.53 WIB

[3]How to Find an Adverb Clause Modifier. Accessible from http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/parts-of-speech/adverbs/how-to-find-adverb-clause-modifier.html. On January 1, 2017. At 13.53 WIB