Noun Modifier and Adverbial Modifier

[PawanG236]

Dear Madam/Sir,
I am studying GMAT Verbal from MPrep Sentence Correction Guide.

I did not understand difference between Noun Modifier and Adverbial Modifier.

Is this difference context driven or rule driven ?

For Example,
1. Prepositional Phrase can be Noun Modifier or Adverbial Modifier. How can I identify if the prepositional phrase is Noun Modifier or Adverbial Modifier.

2. I thought Opening modifier with present particle is always Noun Modifier, but sentence correction guide says present participle with comma can be Adverbial Modifier too. (page number 63 of 6th edition SC Guide)

Example of Adverbial Modifier given in SC Guide is
"The ENGINEER FIXED THE PROBLEM, earning himself a promotion.

So, In a sentence
Completing very difficult project, The Engineer got the promotion.
"Completing very difficult problem" is Noun Modifier or Adverbial Modifier.

If second sentence is Noun Modifier, then what differentiates Noun Modifier or Adverbial Modifier ?

Thank You in Advance.
Regards,

[Chelsey Cooley]

If you think about it in terms of what you actually have to do on the test, here's what you need to be able to do:

1. Know which flavors of modifiers always modify nouns, which always modify verbs (or more specifically, which ones modify the main subject and verb of a clause), and which can modify either.

The really crucial ones are wh- modifiers (starting with 'which', 'who', 'whose', etc.), which always modify nouns, and -ing/-ed modifiers separated by a comma at the beginning or end of a clause, which always modify the 'action' of the clause. Be aware of these, because if something is, for instance, a 'wh' modifier, there are limits on what it can grammatically modify. Even if there's a verb in the sentence that it could logically be modifying, it's still ungrammatical without a noun. For instance, this sentence is ungrammatical:

I got a 790 on the GMAT, which impressed my family.

Even though it 'makes sense' for 'which impressed my family' to modify 'getting a 790', because we know that wh- modifiers always modify nouns, it can't be right.

On top of that, a lot of modifiers can modify either nouns or verbs. Prepositional phrases, as you mention, are an example. But what's interesting is that you never have to look at a prepositional phrase on the GMAT and decide whether it's a noun modifier or a verb modifier. That's not what you're being tested on - they only care if you can tell whether the sentence is grammatical. And that brings us to my second point...

2. Be able to determine whether a modifier in a sentence makes sense.

If you see a prepositional phrase modifier in a sentence, or any kind of 'goes both ways' modifier, don't ask yourself 'is it modifying a noun, or is it modifying a verb?'. Instead, ask yourself 'is there anything in this sentence that the modifier could be modifying, that makes sense both grammatically and logically?' Doesn't matter if it's a noun or a verb, as long as it's in there, and it's in the right place. You need to recognize these sentences as good:

The book on the table has a blue cover. ('on the table' correctly modifies 'book')

I read the book with great enthusiasm. ('with great enthusiasm' correctly modifies 'read')

I saw the man with the binoculars. ('with the binoculars' could be modifying either 'man' or 'saw', but it's grammatical either way, so it doesn't really matter)

and this as less good:

The book has a blue cover on the table. (Doesn't matter whether 'on the table' is a noun or verb modifier, because there's nothing that it can modify without breaking rules of either grammar or logic.)

[JbhB682]

If you think about it in terms of what you actually have to do on the test, here's what you need to be able to do:

1. Know which flavors of modifiers always modify nouns, which always modify verbs (or more specifically, which ones modify the main subject and verb of a clause), and which can modify either.

The really crucial ones are wh- modifiers (starting with 'which', 'who', 'whose', etc.), which always modify nouns, and -ing/-ed modifiers separated by a comma at the beginning or end of a clause, which always modify the 'action' of the clause. Be aware of these, because if something is, for instance, a 'wh' modifier, there are limits on what it can grammatically modify. Even if there's a verb in the sentence that it could logically be modifying, it's still ungrammatical without a noun. For instance, this sentence is ungrammatical:

I got a 790 on the GMAT, which impressed my family.

Even though it 'makes sense' for 'which impressed my family' to modify 'getting a 790', because we know that wh- modifiers always modify nouns, it can't be right.

On top of that, a lot of modifiers can modify either nouns or verbs. Prepositional phrases, as you mention, are an example. But what's interesting is that you never have to look at a prepositional phrase on the GMAT and decide whether it's a noun modifier or a verb modifier. That's not what you're being tested on - they only care if you can tell whether the sentence is grammatical. And that brings us to my second point...

2. Be able to determine whether a modifier in a sentence makes sense.

If you see a prepositional phrase modifier in a sentence, or any kind of 'goes both ways' modifier, don't ask yourself 'is it modifying a noun, or is it modifying a verb?'. Instead, ask yourself 'is there anything in this sentence that the modifier could be modifying, that makes sense both grammatically and logically?' Doesn't matter if it's a noun or a verb, as long as it's in there, and it's in the right place. You need to recognize these sentences as good:

The book on the table has a blue cover. ('on the table' correctly modifies 'book')

I read the book with great enthusiasm. ('with great enthusiasm' correctly modifies 'read')

I saw the man with the binoculars. ('with the binoculars' could be modifying either 'man' or 'saw', but it's grammatical either way, so it doesn't really matter)

and this as less good:

The book has a blue cover on the table. (Doesn't matter whether 'on the table' is a noun or verb modifier, because there's nothing that it can modify without breaking rules of either grammar or logic.)

Hi Chelsey -

I really liked your post but i have a question on the red above

Mentioned was " ....-ing/-ed modifiers separated by a comma at the beginning or end of a clause, which always modify the 'action' of the clause"

But isn't this an example of a -ing/-ed modifiers separated by a comma at the beginning that modifies a NOUN not a clause ...

Tired out from playing Basketball, Charles decided to take a nap


The underline clearly is a -ing/-ed modifier separated by a comma and in this case, modifying the noun "Charles"

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

You can actually do pretty well on GMAT with taking that modifier as a noun modifier. It seems to be giving some information about (i.e modifying) Charles. However, technically, it's an adverbial modifier. It's giving a reason about why Charles decided to take a nap. We can see this more clearly by replacing the main action with a different one:

Tired out from playing basketball, Charles decided to change his job.

Clearly this sentence makes no sense: why would he change his job because he's tired out from playing basketball? We can see that the modifier is more than just giving information about Charles. It's showing a relationship between the actions. If I wanted just to give a couple of facts about Charles, a 'who' modifier would be appropriate:

Charles, who was tired out from playing basketball, decided to change his job.

[SnehaT796]

In the sentence "the Quetzalcoatlus had a wingspan of 36 feet, believed to be the largest flying creature the world has ever seen. ", can you please explain if "believed to be" is a noun modifier or adverbial modifier? Thanks in advance.

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Where did you find that example? That looks like a clear noun modifier to me: it's the animal itself that had was 'believed to be...', not the fact that it had a big wingspan. However, I'm pretty suspicious of that sentence and would suggest two superior alternatives:
The Quetzalcoatlus, believed to be the largest flying creature the world has ever seen, had a wingspan of 36 feet.
The Quetzalcoatlus had a wingspan of 36 feet, leading scientists to believe that it was the largest flying creature the world has ever seen.

Actually, I just did a search and noticed that this example is from the 1000 SC resource. Please take a look at Ron's criticism of that resource: https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... sc#p125587

[LIK WONGL738]

The explanation of OG2020 Q844 (Kushan Empire) in ATLAS states that "a comma followed by ed word is a big clue for noun-modifier". The ",fashioned" is positioned at the end of the clause too. I understand that answer A has meaning error if "fashioned" were an adv mod and parallelism error for "eithier/or", but I'm confused whether comma -ed is a noun modifier or (always) a adv modifier ?

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Well spotted! I disagree with whomever wrote that explanation. If you look in the chapter on Modifiers in All the Verbal, we describe how -ed and -ing words set off by commas are adverbial modifiers. I'll alert my colleagues and see if we can get that one changed.