LNC – EAP –
122
Modification
Year One
Semester
Two
| June 2025
Romeo
Katanga • Innovate
romykatanga@gmail. • Create
com • Generate
(+265) 995 621 224
1 Modification
Outlin
e
Modifier 2
errors
Modification
» Process of changing or
adding info. to a word,
phrase, or clause to provide
more detail or clarity.
→ Ali ndi mutu (s/he has a head)
→ Ali ndi chimutu (s/he has a/an
[ugly, big, beautiful, etc.]
head)
→ Ali ndi chimutu chachikulu
(s/he has a very big [ugly,
beautiful, etc.] head)
Key concepts
Modifier
A word, phrase, or clause
that adds info. to another
word or phrase, making it
more specific or detailed.
Head (or Headword)
The word or phrase that is
being modified
→ Alex bought cake.
→ Alex bought a chocolate cake
yesterday.
→ Particularly, I don’t have to
go.
→ The whole business went
along nicely
→ He frightened the pretty girl
on the corner.
Types of modification
» Generally, modifiers are of
two types according to their
position to the word they
modify.
Pre-modifiers
Post-modifiers
1 Pre-modifiers
They modify words that follow
them in the sentence.
Most of adjs. (Articles,
determiners, demonstrators,
proper adjectives, descriptive
adjectives, compound
adjectives, participles) are pre-
modifiers placed b4 noun they
modify.
1 Adverbs (Conjunctive
adverbs, sentence adverbs)
and some other advs. can
be placed b4 the verbs or
adjs. or other advs.
For example;
adverb descriptive
adj.
Generally the brown dogs are
nice articl
e
adverb determin
er
Apparently, that bank has a lot
demonstra adj.
of security
tive forces.
descriptive present
adj. part.
demonstra past
Give metive
that black
part.
covered
2 Post-modifiers
They come after the words they
modify.
Customarily, the adverbs
(adverbs of time, manner,
place/direction) usually come
after the verbs they modify
However, some adjectives also
come after the nouns and modify
them
Some adjectives, Appositives,
prepositional phrases
(adjectives/adverbs), infinites
(adverbs/adjectives),
dependent clauses, also come
after the nouns and modify
them
For example;
appositi adver
on b
Jason Roy, a cricketer, has been
selected in the squad.
appositi infinite–
on adj.
Stark, our teacher, gives us tasks
adv. of
to do in the class.
appositi
place
on
Ronaldo, the captain of Portugal
adverb
team, plays exceptionally well
Positions of modifiers
» The modifiers occupy varied
positions, some according to
their function, and others
according to their meaning and
they restrict the nouns according
to types, size, and shape, etc.
» These positions are pre-
sentences, pre-head and post-
head
1 Pre-sentence modifiers
Take a form of an adverb,
participle with both -ed and
-ing, to-infinitive, before the
sentence it modifies, e.g.;
→ To stay away, one should
be aware of the fire.
→ Usually, he stops to have
a breath.
2 Pre-head modifiers
Modifiers take the position
directly before the head
they modify, e.g.
→ This book is so very
much interesting.
→ The shouting boy hides
himself there.
Adjs. can go before the
noun they modify.
The most common position
of an adjective is between
the determiner and the
noun head, e.g.;
→ All these attractive horses.
→ Several charming students
passed the exams.
3 Post-head modifiers
Headword is also modified,
but it is modified by
postposition.
The modifiers postpose after
the word they modify, e.g. a
prepositional phrase, and
adverbs postpose after the
word they modify, e.g.;
→ The girl in the corner.
→ The dog learned hastily.
→ The dog hastily learned.
Forms of modifiers
» Modifiers take different
forms, and their heads also
take different forms.
» Four forms: forms of
modifying nouns, adverbs,
verbs, adjs.
1 Forms of modifying nouns
i Verbs modifying nouns
When verbs take the
position of modifying, it is
always a participle;
→ The recommending
committee.
→ A raging fire is in the
fireplace.
i Adjectives modifying nouns
i Noun head can be
modified by an adjective.
An adjective is either
attributive or predicative.
→ The small cat is sleeping
(attrib. adj.)
→ The cat is small (pred.
adj.)
ii Adverbs modifying noun
i phrase
Many advs. interact with
N.P. & determiner system
They come b4
→ It was rather a mess.
determiners either.
→ What a big fool he is.
→ Double the amount
i Prepositional phrase
v modifying nouns
P.P. may modify noun only
as post modification, &
sometimes gives info.
about
Time space or time Space
which
The day after is related to the
The house on the
noun;
tomorrow corner
The week from The window
Wednesday behind the
2 Forms of modifying adverbs
Modifiers with an adverb as
a head, e.g.; quite, pretty,
rather, awfully, too, etc.
They give a degree of
assertion to the head.
i Adverbs modifying adverb
→ We are awfully short of
help right now.
→ Go right ahead with the
Nouns modifying adverbs
i plan.
i
→ Three of them came in at
least a day early.
3 Forms of modifying adjectives
Advs. modify adjs.; are
intensifiers.
When adv. modifies adj. as a
head, it usually precedes
adj. immediately, except
→ She is awfully terrible.
enough that follows the
→ I’ve pretty well finished
head;
now X
→ The amount was enough
4 Forms of modifying verbs
An adverb often modifies
action and provides info,
typically, about action that
it modifies.
There are many kinds of
adverbs that modify verbs,
e.g.
Time Speak now
Place Stop here, please
Manner He speaks slowly
Degree The bottle is nearly
Frequen empty.
cy She is always
Duratio honest.
n She comes
frequently
Common
Modifier
Errors
» Modifiers must clearly point to one
or more words as subjects being
modified
» On sentence diagram, if a word or
phrase can’t be placed under its
subj. or if it is placed under wrong
subject, problems will occur in three
ways.
» Note: In some cases, add or change
words to make sentence make sense.
1 Misplaced modifiers
Modifying phrases must go
next to the word they
modify.
If modifier is in the wrong
place, the meaning of the
sentence can change.
For example;
i Adverbial phrase example:
→ My sister walked in as I
was scrubbing the floor X
with her new baby.
→ My sister walked in with ✓
her new baby as I was
“with her new baby” should
scrubbing the floor.
logically modify how the
sister walked.
i Adjectival phrase example:
i
→ One morning I shot an
elephant in my pajamas. X
→ One morning, while in
my pajamas, I shot an ✓
elephant.
The modifying phrase “in
my pajamas” should be
modifying “I.”
2 Dangling modifiers
A modifier cannot “dangle”
alone in a sentence, e.g.;
→ Having finished the
assignment, the TV
X
was turned on.
→ Having finished the ✓
assignment, Andy
turned on the TV.
→ The experiment was a
failure, not having X
studied the lab
instructions carefully.
→ The class failed to study ✓
the lab instructions
carefully and failed the
experiment.
3 Squinting modifiers
Like misplaced modifiers,
except the modifier is placed
btwn words so there is
confusion as to which word the
modifier refers.
Words like almost, nearly, only,
both, and well can easily squint
or modify two or more words in
a sentence.
→ The family nearly lost
everything in the tornado.
→The family lost nearly
1 example, nearly is adv.
st
everything in the tornado
modifying “lost”, almost
suffered lost, but didn’t.
2nd example, nearly is adj.
modifying “everything”, lost a
great deal – almost everything.
→ In the battle, the
commander lost nearly a
thousand men. (maybe 950
or 960)
→ In the battle, the
commander nearly lost a
thousand men. (almost
died)
→ I almost did all my
End of Presentation
Thank you!!!!!
Romeo Katanga | romykatanga@gmail.com |
(+265) 995 621 224
