A modifier is a word/phrase/clause which modifies other words in a

sentence. To be specific, a modifier is either an adjective or an adverb.

The adjectives modify the nouns, and the adverbs modify the verbs or the
adjectives or the other adverbs. See the details of adjectives and adverbs.
Example:

Alex bought a chocolate cake yesterday.

(Here, ‘a’ is an article which modifies the word ‘cake’ and the word
‘chocolate’ is the direct adjective of the word ‘cake’. So both the words ‘a’
and ‘chocolate’ are adjectives which modify the noun ‘cake’. The word
‘yesterday’ announces the time of the action, i.e., the verb ‘bought’. So it
is an adverb which modifies the verb.)

Murphy, the president’s daughter, is very sick.

(Here, the phrase ‘president’s daughter’ modifies the noun ‘Murphy’. In

this phrase, ‘the president’s’ modifies the noun ‘daughter’ but the whole
phrase itself becomes an adjective when it modifies the noun ‘Murphy’.
There is another adjective ‘sick’ which is modified by the adverb ‘very’.)

The brown(adjective) dog was barking at me aggressively(adverb).

Generally, modifiers are of two types according to their position to the

words they modify:

Pre-modifiers:
Pre-modifiers are the modifiers which modify the words that follow them
in the sentence. Conventionally the adjectives are usually placed before
the nouns. So, most of the adjectives are pre-modifiers. Adverbs are often
placed before the words they modify.

Articles, determiners, demonstratives, proper adjectives,

descriptive adjectives, compound adjectives, participles, etc.
are the adjectives which come before the nouns and modify them.
Conjunctive adverbs, sentence adverbs, and some other adverbs can
work being placed before the verbs/adjectives/other adverbs.
Example:

Generally(adverb) the(article) brown(descriptive adjective) dogs are nice.

Apparently(adverb), that(demonstrative) bank has a lot of(determiners) security(adjective) porcess.
Give me that(demonstrative) black(descriptive adjective) covered(past participle) shining(present participle) box.
(In the above sentence the noun ‘box’ has four pre-modifiers
[adjectives].)

Post-modifiers
Post-modifiers are the modifiers which come after the words they modify.
Customarily, the adverbs come after the verbs and modify them.
However, some adjectives also come after the nouns and modify them.
Most of the adverbs of time, adverbs of manner, adverbs of
place/direction usually come after the verbs they modify.
Appositives, prepositional
phrases (adjectives/adverbs), infinitives (adverbs/adjectives),
dependent clause, etc. usually come after the nouns they modify.
Example:

Jason Roy, a cricketer,(appositive) has been selected in the squad(adverb).

Stark, our teacher, (appositive) gives us tasks to do(infinitive - adjective) in the class(adverb of
place)
.
Ronaldo, the captain of Portugal team, (appositive) plays exceptionally(adverb of
manner)
well.

Modifiers, as their name implies, are words that modify. Specifically, they’re
words that modify their sentences’ meanings. How do you specify what
somebody looks like? With modifiers. How do you describe how an action
is being performed? With a modifier. How do you communicate where,
when, or how something happened? You guessed it—with modifiers.

What is a modifier?
As we mentioned above, modifiers are words that modify their sentences’
meanings. Take a look at these two examples:

I rode the train.

I rode the earliest train into the city.
The second sentence is more descriptive because of the modifiers it
contains. Fundamentally, modifiers’ purpose is to make sentences more
descriptive or detailed. They can make a sentence’s meaning clearer,
make a sentence more specific, or simply make it more engaging. Both of
the example sentences above are complete sentences, but only one
provides additional details about the train ride. These details, depending on
how this sentence fits into a larger conversation, could serve as
foreshadowing, clarification, distinction between this and another
statement, or a means to hook the listener’s attention.
The second sentence contains both a modifier and a modifier phrase.
While a modifier is a single word that alters a sentence’s meaning, a
modifier phrase is a phrase that functions as a modifier. This is similar to
how adjective phrases are phrases that function as adjectives, noun
phrases are phrases that function as nouns, and other grammatical
phrases function as specific parts of speech.

A few examples of single words that may be used as modifiers are:

First, Yellow, Outdoor, Flying
Modifier phrases, which can be adverbial or adjectival phrases, are phrases
like: Beneath the car, A somewhat slow, Without a care

Sometimes, clauses act as modifiers. These, too, are generally either

adverbial or adjectival and can look like: When the sun rises, Who wore
gray jeans, With excitement in her eyes

Here are a few examples of modifier phrases in action:

We waited until the last minute to mention our concerns.

The kid with green sneakers kicked the ball.
And here are some examples of modifier clauses working in sentences:

My sister won the contest, as she had hoped.

The pedestrian, who had been waiting for fifteen minutes, didn’t step
aside.

How are modifiers structured?

Typically, modifiers are placed right beside the noun they’re modifying.
Usually, this means right before or after the noun:

My calico cat is always by my side.

The girls ordered a pizza without sauce.
This is also true when they’re modifying a verb or adjective:

He bought a bright blue van.

I told the students to listen carefully to the lecture.
When a modifier isn’t in this position, it can make the sentence confusing
for a reader or listener. This is known as a misplaced modifier. Here are a
few examples of misplaced modifiers:

They bought a car for my sister they call Pumpkin.

We built a house for them out of bricks.
In the first sentence, who is Pumpkin? Is it the sister or the car? In the
second, did they run out of bricks? Did we build a house using bricks? Did
they previously live in bricks?

Here are the same two sentences with their modifiers in the correct
positions:

They bought a car that they call Pumpkin for my sister.

We built a house out of bricks for them.

Squinting and dangling modifiers

One type of misplaced modifier is known as a dangling modifier. A dangling
modifier is a modifier that doesn’t modify any specific word in the sentence.
Here are a few examples:

After reading the book, the movie was great.

Before leaving, a squirrel crossed the sidewalk.
You might be able to guess what these sentences are communicating, but
they feel awkward and choppy. That’s because their modifiers aren’t
actually modifying any nouns. Clearer ways of writing these sentences are:

After reading the book, I thought the movie was great.

 Before leaving, I watched a squirrel cross the sidewalk.
Dangling modifiers aren’t the only type of misplaced modifier. Another type
is known as a squinting modifier. This kind of modifier is unclear because
it’s placed in a way that makes it just as applicable to the word before it as
it is to the word following it. Take a look at these examples:

The kids who played at the playground sometimes bought ice cream.
Emi hoped when class was over she could check her phone.
With these sentences, moving the modifier around fixes any clarity
challenges:

Sometimes, the kids who played at the playground bought ice cream.
The kids who sometimes played at the playground bought ice cream.
When class was over, Emi hoped she could check her phone.
Emi hoped she could check her phone when class was over.

What are the different kinds of modifiers?

As we mentioned above, modifiers can be single words, phrases, or
clauses. For a quick refresher on how to fit these components together to
build sentences, read our post on sentence structure.

An adjective phrase can act as a modifier. Adjective phrases are phrases

that function as adjectives, which means they describe nouns. You might
hear or read that adjective phrases describe adjectives, and this is true in a
pedantic sense—an adjective phrase does replace a single adjective by
describing what that single adjective would communicate. But the purpose
of an adjective is to describe a noun, and an adjective phrase ultimately
describes a noun by providing a more vivid description than a single
adjective can.
With that out of the way, take a look at these examples of adjective phrases
working as modifiers:

The building that was taller than the others was prone to power
outages.
Our generally aloof cat surprised us by accepting the new kitten.
Adjective clauses can work as modifiers too. Here are a few examples:

Kiara, a student who had recently transferred, asked about the

school’s testing schedule.
The service that catered our parties just increased their prices.
And of course, single adjectives can be used as modifiers too:

I want to go to the retro arcade for my birthday.

They saw a yellow bird in the garden.
This includes possessive adjectives:

The paint splattered all over my car.

An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb.

Naturally, they’re often used as modifiers:

She performed her solo perfectly.

We are very experienced designers.
Adverbial phrases are a lot like adjectival phrases in that they’re phrases
that perform the same functions as adverbs. And like adjectival phrases,
adverbial phrases are often used by writers to make descriptions more
vivid:

She performed her solo with perfect pitch.

We have years of experience as designers.
Writers also modify sentences with adverbial clauses like:
 The band played like a high school garage band plays.
They hung their clothes like the closet was a boutique.
Prepositional phrases can also be used as modifiers. Here are a few
example sentences:

The woman with blue hair bought four romanescos.

All the fish in the lake play a role in the ecosystem.
Limiting modifiers are modifiers that add detail by describing the limits a
noun, pronoun, or other subject in a sentence faces. Words that are often
used as limiting modifiers include: Always, Only, Just, Simply, Almost

In a sentence, a limiting modifier can look like this:

I just want to go on vacation.

Examples of modifiers
You use modifiers in your everyday speech and writing without realizing it.
Take a look at these examples to see a variety of ways modifiers operate in
sentences:

We went to the beach on our vacation last year.

Mossimo always asks me how work is going.
Kristi grew tomatoes that were bigger than everybody else’s.
Before school starts, the teachers all drink iced coffee.
We produced our movie on a tight budget.

What is a modifier?
Modifiers are words that modify their sentences’ meanings by adding
details and clarifying facts or by differentiating between people, events, or
objects.
How do modifiers work?

Modifiers work by adding descriptive language to sentences, either just

before or just after the words they are modifying. For example, here’s how
the word only can modify a sentence:

We stopped once.
We only stopped once.

What are the different kinds of modifiers?

Different kinds of modifiers include:

Adjective phrases
Adjective clauses
Adjectives
Adverbs
Adverbial phrases
Adverbial clauses
Limiting modifiers
Misplaced modifiers
Prepositional phrases