Modifiers are words or phrases that provide additional descriptive information about the subject addressed within a sentence. Modifiers are used to inject life into sentences and make them much more interesting for the reader.
Take a look at this sentence:
Sarah fell over.
This sentence is grammatically correct and great for people who want to get straight to the point. However, if it were to be used in a creative story or novel, it wouldn’t exactly win any Pulitzer prizes.
Here’s how modifiers could potentially make the sentence a lot more interesting:
Clumsy Sarah, who was proudly wearing a new pair of high heels, suddenly tripped and fell over on the cafeteria floor, shrieking loudly as the tray of food she was carrying went everywhere, causing a real mess in front of half the school.
The use of modifiers has added additional detail to the information communicated and has made the sentence much more interesting for the reader. Modifiers can be both adverbs and adjectives:
Adjective: clumsy.
Adjective clause: who was proudly wearing a new pair of high heels.
Adverb: suddenly.
Adverb clause: as the tray of food she was carrying went everywhere.
Prepositional phrases can also act as modifiers:
Prepositional phrase: on the cafeteria floor.