Los Angeles Times

A Word, Please: For less confusion, seek the modifier’s noun

Not long ago, I used as an example in this column “Having already missed two mortgage payments, Jane asked her mother if she could loan her some money.” I was making the point that editors usually ...
Los Angeles Times

A Word, Please: Some compound modifiers don’t need a hyphen to make sense

Russ in New Jersey had a question about hyphens: In “northwestern California landmark” should “northwestern California” be hyphenated? “I’m not sure if it’s simply a matter of preference or if the ...
Hosted on MSN

Crafting more elegant prose with free modifiers

TO better appreciate the value of free modifiers, particularly of the kind that works in the same league as resumptive modifiers and summative modifiers, we must first survey the entire universe of ...
Vanguard

Using modifiers in speaking and writing (1)

MODIFIERS give us information about a noun or pronoun in a sentence. They are important because they help to paint the true picture of the information we seek to convey to our reader or listener. The ...