Modifiers

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A.Kiran: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 79; Joined: Tue Nov 03, 2009 12:03 am; Thanked: 1 times

Modifiers

by A.Kiran » Thu Nov 05, 2009 2:14 pm

I am having tough time in identifying the modifer.
Can some one, please show the ligt to understand the modifers issue.

I know, modifiers add detial to the noun/subject.

Can Modifiers can start with Gerund phrase,adverbial clause,perpostional phrase. ??

Does modifers correspond to the antecedent or the following nouns ???

2. I have read from the stackeys answers that,

1. Structure of sentence
2. logis are important.

Structure of sentece ? are there any finites structures? any good book i can refer to ?

Manhattan just emphaiss on the rules. It does not say anything about the Strucutres. Any help on this issue ?

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Thu Nov 05, 2009 2:14 pm

hitmewithgmat: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 189; Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2008 10:42 am; Thanked: 11 times; Followed by:1 members

by hitmewithgmat » Fri Nov 06, 2009 12:08 pm

Hmm..since you mentioned manhattan gmat SC book, read that chapter thoroughly without interruption to maximize your concentration.

-Usually, whatever the comma shows, you can tell that a modifier is around the comma.
-typically, remove the modifier does not affect the grammaticality of the construction because modifier is the one that describes nouns, clause, or phrase.
-modifiers can be a word, a phrase or an entire clause. modifiers describe and provide more accurate definitional meaning for another element. In other words, modifiers gives an additional information.

e.g.) Peeking through the window, Paris saw the trees.
What is the subject of this sentence? "Paris"
What is the verb of the sentence? "saw"
What is the modifier of the sentence? "Peeking through the window".
Who is peeking through the window? "Paris"
so, "peeking through the window" modifier phrase modifies "Paris"
Does modifier affect the sentence? no because modifier give an additional information.

Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, can sing and dance.
Subject? MJ
Verb? can
modifier? the King of Pop
What does "King of Pop" modifies? "MJ"
Does modifier affect the sentence? no because modifier gives an additional information
There you go.

Disclaimer-I am not a GMAT savvy yet, but I am learning everyday with my fellow beatthegmat citizens.

I AM DETERMINED TO CRASH/NIX OUT/ATTACK BRUTALLY/CRACK VERBAL PART OF GMAT. ROAR!

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A.Kiran: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 79; Joined: Tue Nov 03, 2009 12:03 am; Thanked: 1 times

by A.Kiran » Fri Nov 06, 2009 12:24 pm

-Usually, whatever the comma shows, you can tell that a modifier is around the comma. ??

wht does it mean ?? can you explain indetail ?

all with COmma, single comma or double comma ??

when i see a comma, then there has to be a modifier around ??

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hitmewithgmat: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 189; Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2008 10:42 am; Thanked: 11 times; Followed by:1 members

by hitmewithgmat » Fri Nov 06, 2009 1:39 pm

Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, can sing and dance.

You see the comma above?
then you can presume that modifier is around the comma area. In this case, "the King of Pop" is the modifier that describes/modifies Michael Jackson.

Peeking through the window, he can see the trees.
You see the comma? "peeking through the window" is the modifier that describes/modifies "he".

Disclaimer-I am not a GMAT savvy yet, but I am learning everyday with my fellow beatthegmat citizens.

I AM DETERMINED TO CRASH/NIX OUT/ATTACK BRUTALLY/CRACK VERBAL PART OF GMAT. ROAR!

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GMAT/MBA Expert

Stacey Koprince: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2228; Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pm; Location: Montreal, Canada; Thanked: 639 times; Followed by:694 members; GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:22 am

Received a PM asking me to respond.

It sounds like you're struggling to understand the difference between the "core" of the sentence and the "modifiers."

The "core" is the part that makes this a complete sentence. A complete sentence needs a subject and verb (minimum) and may also have other things, such as an object. For example:

The baby is happy.

"the baby" is the subject, "is" is the verb, and "happy" is the object.

The "core" is critical to the sentence - if you remove any of the core, you will not have a complete sentence. (Try it with the above sentence: can you say "the baby happy."? or "the baby is."? Nope - it's not a sentence.)

Now, let's add some modifiers to make the sentence more complicated:
The red-haired baby with the yellow shirt is happy with its toy, which rattles.

The core of the sentence is still: the baby is happy.
If you remove any of the other pieces, you'll still have a complete sentence (as long as you still have "the baby is happy").

The baby with the yellow shirt is happy with its toy, which rattles.
The red-haired baby is happy with its toy, which rattles.
The red-haired baby with the yellow shirt is happy with its toy.
The baby is happy with its toy, which rattles.

So, if you can remove anything but still have a complete sentence, then that stuff you can remove is a modifier.

If you remove anything and that "breaks" the sentence - you no longer have a complete sentence - then what you tried to remove was part of the core of the sentence.

You can have other forms of core sentences than just "subject+verb+object" of course.

The sun is shining. [subject+verb]
The baby and her mother are happy. [compound subject+verb+object]
The baby and her mother laugh and play. [compound subject + compound verb]
The baby and her mother laugh, and the father plays. [2 indepedent sentences, connected by "comma and"]
The mother thinks that her baby is happy. [subject+verb+THAT+subject+verb+object]

So, let's just start there - do you get the difference between "core" and "modifier"?

Please note: I do not use the Private Messaging system! I will not see any PMs that you send to me!!

Stacey Koprince
GMAT Instructor
Director of Online Community
Manhattan GMAT

Contributor to Beat The GMAT!

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A.Kiran: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 79; Joined: Tue Nov 03, 2009 12:03 am; Thanked: 1 times

by A.Kiran » Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:47 pm

Thank you very much @ Stacey.

This definetely helps me better.

Questiion : The mother thinks that her baby is happy

The core sentences you have said above there is " that" clause. so it is not a core sentence but it is a modifier.

I am not able to understand the last one. Even though it has -that clause- it is a core sentence ?

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nageswarkv: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 22; Joined: Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:01 pm

by nageswarkv » Tue Nov 17, 2009 10:56 am

Stacey,

May I say, you gave excellent definition of modifier, as all along every body telling me modifier is which modifies either nour (subject) or verb or whichever it modifies.

Now I get it, if you remove the modifier, sentence still makes sense but some information is left out and that's how you can identify the modifier.

cool

Thanx,

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GMAT/MBA Expert

Stacey Koprince: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2228; Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pm; Location: Montreal, Canada; Thanked: 639 times; Followed by:694 members; GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Tue Nov 24, 2009 9:45 am

The word "that" can be used to indicate a modifier, but it can also be used for other purposes. The word "that" does not always indicate a modifier. It's annoying, I know - it's nicer when something has just one role - but the word "that" has multiple roles.

In this structure:
The mother thinks that her baby is happy

The word "that" is not functioning as a modifier. It is functioning as a necessary extension to the sentence. The core has the structure: subject verb THAT subject verb object.

If you see the word "that" right after a verb (as we have in the above example: "thinks that"), then "that" is most likely a part of the core, and you probably have the structure that I typed up above.