When you’re writing, it’s important to express your thoughts in a way that doesn’t create confusion. You want your messages to be understood and to inspire or influence.
Like getting the comma in the right spot, where you place your modifiers is just as important.
A modifier is a word or phrase that modifies — describes or gives information about — another word in the same sentence.
I have to admit, this has baffled me more than once. If you place your modifier in the wrong place, it can create an illogical sentence. Here’s an example: The principle asked the students to report the number of books they sold to her.
She wasn’t buying the books… or was she? Did the principle mean the books she bought (sold to her) or maybe the sentence should have read: The principle asked the students to report to her the number of books they sold.
When your modifier places a limit on the word it modifies (only, simply, hardly, etc. ) it’s best to place the modifier right before the word it modifies.
For example, The girl only ate the red apples, should read, The girl ate only the red applies.
Here’s my favourite… split infinitives. When you split up the “to” from the verb that goes with it — To boldly go, rather than To go boldly.
The mother wanted the team to slowly run along the street.
Correct: The mother wanted the team to run slowly along the street.
There are a lot of rules around modifiers and sometimes it takes adding a few words to avoid confusion. If the sentence reads, Careful reading is important to avoid over baking, adding “for bakers” clarifies who is doing the action. Careful reading is important for bakers to avoid over baking.
This week I wrote, Members must train twice a year on their roles. I struggled over the correct order of my phrases. Should it be, Members must train on their roles twice a year? What do you think?
Writing for you. 