Modifiers & Connectors

Fundamentals of Journalism (JOUR 1033)

 Back to FJ menu

Ask a kid what he thought about his trip to Disneyland and he's likely to say, "It was the funnest time I ever had."

We learn growing up that "funnest" isn't a word. So then we become teenagers and may say, depending on the era, that something is "hot." And if it's really hot, then it's hotter. And the grammar police don't descend on us. How come?

Well, "fun" is a noun. "Hot" is an adjective. Adjectives can be compared to each other; nouns cannot.

Yep, that's right: There's actually a rule.

In fact, there are several common grammatical mistakes based on modifiers (adjectives, adverbs, articles) and connectors (prepositions and conjunctions).


THINGS TO REMEMBER:

•    Know the proper case of adjectives: Positive, Comparative or Superlative. Cold, colder, coldest. (See below)

•    Almost always use the rather than this in your writing. Example: The mayor presented a plan to improve the city's streets. The plan will be presented to the council Monday. (not This plan)

•    Adverbs -- Don't use a hyphen between -ly words and the adjective they modify. Example: well-seasoned salad, BUT NOT hastily-made salad.

•        Connective adverbs -- Words such as therefore, however, consequently and nevertheless ARE NOT coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS). You can't grammatically connect two            independent clauses with a connective adverb. You must use a coordinating conjunction. (see below)
       Example: He takes life easy, or he takes life easily. (The first means he's unflappable; the second means he's a cold-blooded killer.)

Prepositions: It's "anywhere a squirrel can go." Up, down, around, behind, over, across, etc.

The tricky part here is when pronouns are used as objects of the preposition.  Objects of preposition must be in objective case.

            Give it to me.
            It was a secret between him and me. (NOT he and I or him and I)

    Avoid excessive prepositions: off of, out of (use from instead), where's it at?

Conjunctions:

Conjunctions join words or parts of sentences. There are three kinds of conjunctions (coordinating, subordinating and correlative) and you also have to watch out for another form of speech that tries to masquerade as a conjunction. It even has a "conjunction-sounding" name -- conjunctive adverb.

Coordinating conjunctions -- FANBOYS (for, and, not, but, or, yet, so) used to connect equal grammatical structures, such as connecting two independent clauses to create a compound sentence.

Subordinating conjunctions -- These create dependent clauses (before, after, because, until, while)

Correlative conjunctions --These are used in pairs: either/or, neither/nor, whether/or, not only/but also and both/and. 

Conjunctive adverb -- Journalists usually don't use these as connectors because they require a semicolon. (however, therefore, nevertheless, consequently, accordingly, moreover, thus)


Common error: Using conjunctive adverbs when coordinating conjuctions (FANBOYS) should be used:

WRONG: "The mayor lost, however, that wasn't the end of the controversy," he said.
        There are two independent clauses (mayor lost, that wasn't) and if joined by a conjunctive adverb, they create a comma splic

BETTER: "The mayor lost, but that wasn't the end of the controversy," he said.
          But can almost always be used for however and so can usually be used for therefore, a good way to fix the most common errors of this kind.

OR: "The mayor lost, he said. "However, that wasn't the end of the controversy."
          You can usually cut the runon sentence into two complete sentences.

JOURNALISTIC STYLE: Journalists usually don't use this form (so don't use it in the class), although it is grammatically correct:
       "The mayor lost; however, that wasn't the end of the controversy," he said.

In other uses, conjunctive adverbs are followed by a comma
        "I can tell you, however, that the election was crooked," he said.
                You can use however in a parenthetical way, sort of as an aside. Notice that it is not connecting two independent clauses; instead, it is placed between an independent and dependent clause to make a complex sentence. <>

Common error using modifiers and connectors:

The Rule about as if vs. like -- When the words after the conjunction as if or the preposition like form an independent clause, use as if.

Example: The room smelled as if incense had been recently burned. (Incense had recently been burned is an independent clause.)

BUT when the words after the preposition like don't form a clause, use like.

Example: The room smelled like incense.


The Rule about awhile vs. a while
         Awhile (one word)  means "for a while"

INCORRECT: He will be with us for awhile. (It's as if you wrote: He will be with us for a "for a while.")

CORRECT: He will be with us for a while. He was there awhile.

The Rules according to journalistic style:

About -- In journalism, use this rather than "approximately." About 100 students protested the tuition hike.

Around -- refers to motion, not a synonym for "about."

Over -- shows location, do not use to mean "more than." More than 100 students protested the tuition hike.




Proper Case of Adjectives:

In most cases, the comparative degree of adjectives of one syllable is formed by adding -er to the simple form (positive). For the superlative degree, add -est instead.

Positive: not really a degree of comparison, the simple form of adjective.

It is a cold day.

Comparative: comparing two persons or things.

Saturday was colder than Friday.

Superlative: comparing more than two persons or things.

Thursday was the coldest day of the year.

Adjectives of two or more syllables are usually compared by using the words more (comparative) or most (superlative) in front of the positive form. Less and least are used in the same way.

Positive

Comparative

Superlative

fragrant

more fragrant

most fragrant

difficult

less difficult

least difficult

Adj. ending in "y":

change "y" to   "i" before adding suffix


silly

sillier

silliest

noisy

noisier

noisiest

IRREGULAR COMPARISONS: Some adjectives change form in comparison.

Positive

Comparative

Superlative

bad

worse

worst

little (amount)

less

least

little (size)

littler

littlest

much, many

more

most

INCOMPARABLE ADJECTIVES: Don't compare these. For instance, don't say "more unique." It's either unique or not.

perfect

unique

square

universal

single

supreme

fatal

empty

vertical

full

alone

dead

final

mortal

round

deadly

straight

blind

everlasting

wrong


Placement of Modifiers

Common error:  Placing the modifier in the wrong place in the sentence is very common. The meaning of a sentence depends on the correct placement.

Eight rules for avoiding misplaced sentence parts and dangling modifiers:

1. Avoid needless separation of parts of the sentence. Place modifiers near the words they modify:

Tex just died with his boots on.

Tex died with just his boots on.

Just Tex died with his boots on.

 

2. Modifiers such as almost, only, just, even, hardly, nearly and merely are regularly placed immediately before the words they modify:

The truck costs only $450. (NOT only costs)

He works even during his vacation. (NOT even works)

 

3. Adjective clauses should be placed near the words they modify:

MISPLACED: We bought gasoline in Arkansas at a small country store which cost $10.25.

BETTER: We bought gasoline, which cost $10.25, at a small country store in Arkansas.

 

4. Avoid ambiguous or confusing constructions -- modifiers that may refer to either a preceding or a following word:

Jogging often relaxes her.

BETTER: Often, jogging relaxes her.

OR: It relaxes her to jog often.

 

5. Avoid the awkward separation of the sentence base and the awkward splitting of an infinitive:

SEPARATED: He had in spite of his not living in a neighborhood as fine as his rival's a healthy

measure of pride.

BETTER: In spite of his not living in a neighborhood as fine as his rival's, he had a

healthy measure of pride.

SPLIT INFINITIVE: Hawkins is the man to, if we can, nominate for governor.

BETTER: Hawkins is the man to nominate for governor if we can.

 

6. Avoid dangling participial phrases:

DANGLING: Discouraged by low grades, dropping out seemed to make sense.

BETTER: Because he was discouraged by low grades, dropping out seemed to make sense.

OR: Discouraged by low grades, he thought dropping out made sense.

 

7. Avoid dangling phrases containing gerunds or infinitives:

DANGLING: Instead of watching the late show, a novel was read.

BETTER: Instead of watching the late show, Hillary read a novel.

 

DANGLING: Not able to swim that far, a lifeguard came to his rescue.

BETTER: He was not able to swim that far, so a lifeguard came to his rescue.

OR: Because he was not able to swim that far, a lifeguard came to his rescue.

 

8. Avoid dangling elliptical adverb clauses:

DANGLING: When confronted with these facts, not one word was said.

BETTER: When confronted with these facts, nobody said a word.

OR: When they were confronted with these facts, not one word was said.

 

DANGLING: Although only a small boy, his father expected him to do a man's work.

BETTER: Although he was only a small boy, his father expected him to do a man's work.


Back to FOJ menu