Modifiers: The Good, the Bad, and the Badly Quiz / Test | Humanities

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. An adjective is that part of speech that modifies a noun or a pronoun, often by explaining what kind or which one. Which of the four words below is an adjective in the following sentence? "Betsy asked the guide on the safari if he had ever encountered an honest cheetah."

Answer: Honest

"Honest" modifies the noun "cheetah." It explains what kind of cheetah Betsy is looking for. "Ever" is an adverb, "guide" is a noun, and "if" is a conjunction.

2. Adjectives don't have to be single words; they can also be phrases (groups of words). Which group of words in the following sentence is an adjective phrase? "Squeezing the can, he looked at me with disappointment and told me that he did not think that the baked beans were ripe."

Answer: Squeezing the can

As I mentioned in the first question, an adjective can modify a pronoun, and the phrase "squeezing the can" is doing just that. Which "he" are we talking about? We're discussing the one "squeezing the can." "Sqeezing the can" is what is known as a participial phrase, a group of words beginning with a participle.

A participle is a verb form that cannot stand alone without an auxillary or helping verb before it. For example, in the sentence "He was squeezing the can," "was squeezing" would be the verb.

However, if the participle does stand alone (as "squeezing"), then it is being used as an adjective or an adverb (or a noun or gerund). "At me" and "with disappointment" are prepositional phrases being used as adverbs, and "that he did not think" is a noun clause and not a phrase.

3. An adverb is that part of speech that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, often by explaining how, where, when, why, or to what extent. Which of the four words below is an adverb in the following sentence? "Everett crabbily demanded that someone pass him the plate of seasoned shellfish."

Answer: Crabbily

"Crabbily" modifies the verb "demanded." It explains how Everett demanded that plate of shellfish. "Demanded" and "pass" are verb forms, and "seasoned" is a participle used as an adjective to describe "shellfish."

4. As I mentioned above, an adverb doesn't have to be limited to modifying only verbs; they can also modify adjectives and other adverbs. With that in mind, which word in the following sentence is an adverb? "I found the book 'The Celery Stalks at Midnight' by Paige Turner to be a very suspenseful novel."

Answer: Very

"Very" is an adverb because it modifies "suspenseful," which is an adjective. "Very" explains to what extent the novel is suspenseful. "Midnight" is a noun, and "found" is a verb.

5. Now for something a little bit different. ... From the list below, which pair of words would correctly fill in the blank in the following sentence? "Chairman Meow, Emily's prize-winning cat, darted _________ after the frantic mouse."

Answer: Really quickly

First of all, one would have to use the word "quickly" because one would have to use the adverb form to modify the verb "darted." How did the cat dart? He darted quickly. Then one would have to use the adverb "really" to modify another adverb "quickly." To what extent did the cat dart quickly? He darted really quickly. "Real" and "quick" are adjectives and therefore cannot modify verbs or other adverbs.

6. While English speakers often confuse "real" and "really," perhaps they have an even more difficult time with "good" and "well." Which is the correct word to fill the blank in the following sentence? "Richard, the human cannonball, performed his job so _______ at the circus that no one else was of his caliber"?

Answer: well

"Well" is an adverb, and an adverb is what is needed in this sentence to explain how Richard performs his job. "Good" is an adjective and, therefore, can modify only a noun or a pronoun. One might say, "Richard does a good job," but one could not say, "Richard does his job good."

7. Adjectives and adverbs possess a quality that allows a speaker to compare two or more items to a higher or lesser degree. When taking advantage of this quality, a speaker will have to add a suffix to the modifier or add a word before the modifier. What word would correctly fill the blank in the following sentence? "Between Houdini and Truman, Houdini is definitely the _________"?

Answer: Hairier

When comparing only two items, one must use the "-er" suffix or place the word "more" before the adjective or adverb. The suffix "-est" or the word "most" may be used only when comparing more than two items. For example, I could correctly write, "Among Houdini, Truman, and Connick, Jr., Houdini is the hairiest."

8. When using the comparative form (comparing two items) and the superlative form (comparing more than two items), one must also correctly decide whether to use a suffix (-er/-est) or place a word (more/most/less/least) before the adjective or adverb. Which of the words below represents an INCORRECT form?

Answer: Brilliantest

If you called someone "the brilliantest," you would, in fact, not be so brilliant yourself. According to "the rules," one-syllable words should add a suffix whereas all other words should rely on a word added before them. Thus, while you may say "smartest" and "wisest," you would be required to say "most intelligent" and "most brilliant." Of course, the English language is full of exceptions.

Some two-syllable words, mostly those ending with a letter "y," add a suffix. For example, I could say "wittiest," "silliest," "happiest," and "busiest."

9. "When the chick saw that its mother had produced a tangerine instead of an egg, it said, 'That is absolutely the most prettiest orange mama laid.'" Aside from the torturous pun, what else is wrong with this sentence?

Answer: "Most prettiest" should be "prettiest"

While some may argue over whether one should add a suffix to an adjective/adverb or whether a word should be placed before the adjective/adverb, no one consents to doubling up or using both methods simultaneously. You should never put "more/most/less/least" before a word that ends with the comparative "-er" or the superlative "-est." The preferred choice above is "prettiest"; as explained earlier, two-syllable words ending with "y" often add a suffix instead of having "more" or "most" before them.

10. Some adjectives and adverbs are irregular, meaning they become other words to express the comparative and superlative forms. For example, "good" and "well" both become "better" for the comparative form and "best" for the superlative. What about "bad" and "badly"? What is the correct word to complete the following sentence: "The _______ calamity ever to befall someone in the dry cleaning business is for him or her to be depressed."

Answer: Worst

First of all, "baddest" and "worsest" are not even words -- at least, not in Standard American English. Then, between "worse" and "worst", one would have to pick "worst" for the sentence above. "Worse" is the comparative form and can be used only when one is comparing two items and no more. "Worst" is the superlative form, which is used when one is comparing more than two items.

The word "ever" in the sentence above implies that one is comparing all the calamities one could possibly suffer; certainly that would be more than two.

11. Let's try "ill." What is the correct form of the word "ill" to complete the following sentence? "When a man rushed into the doctor's office and complained that he was shrinking, the doctor replied, 'You'll have to be a little patient; I am treating a person who is ________ off than you are right now.'"

Answer: Worse

"Badder" certainly is not a word, and "iller" is not universally accepted as standard usage. "Ill" is an irregular adjective. To compare two ill individuals, you would have to use the word "worse", and to compare more than two, the word "worst". Of course, if using "worse" and "worst" for the comparative and superlative forms of "ill" drives you insane, you can always choose not to use the word "ill" and use the word "sick" instead. "Sick" becomes "sicker" and "sickest", as it is a regular adjective.

12. Sometimes even regular adjectives and adverbs in comparative or superlative form can be a headache. What properly goes into the blank in the following sentence? "Apparently, the Marxists could drink horrible tea _________ than they could quality tea, for they believed that all proper tea is theft."

Answer: more easily

As the speaker is explaining HOW the Marxists drink their tea, he or she will have to use an adverb, which in this case is "easily." However, the speaker is also comparing two ways the Marxists drink their tea, so a comparative form must be used. The speaker cannot say "easilier," for that is not a word.

The speaker will have to say "more easily." "Easier" is also incorrect, for this is the comparative form of the word "easy", which is an adjective. The speaker could not use an adjective to tell HOW the Marxists drink their tea.

13. One other difficulty writers have with modifiers is caused by the confusion of where to place descriptive words and phrases. If a writer places a modifying phrase in a sentence but fails to give that modifying phrase anything to describe, then that writer is said to be guilty of a dangling modifier. In the following sentence, what would be the dangling modifier? "While telling a joke to my roommate, a cockroach scurried across my apple pandowdy and onto my serviette."

Answer: While telling a joke to my roommate

Ridiculously, this sentence sounds as if the roach is telling a joke because the modifier "while telling a joke to my roommate" has nothing to describe in this sentence, at least nothing appropriate to describe. A proper way to compose this sentence would be, "While telling a joke to my roommate, I noticed a cockroach scurrying across my apple pandowdy and onto my serviette" or "While I was telling a joke to my roommate, a cockroach scurried across my apple pandowdy and onto my serviette".

14. A misplaced modifier, on the other hand, has something to describe in the sentence but is not placed correctly in the sentence. Which of the following sentences does **not** have a misplaced modifier?

Answer: Holding the half dollar coin in her hand, Katie flippantly asked whether I wanted heads or tails.

How many recognized the classic quotation from Groucho Marx's character in "Animal Crackers"? He often got many laughs from statements with misplaced modifiers, like "in my pajamas." Such errors often create humorous statements and amusing jokes, but they can certainly disrupt the clarity of a sentence as well.

For example, consider the following sentence: "My father ran out of the house to chase down the mail carrier without any pants on." Someone reading this sentence might logically assume that the the father has on no pants, but logically the mail carrier could be without pants as well; perhaps the father wants to bring this to the absent-minded mail carrier's attention or complain to him or her about his or her inappropriate appearance.

15. Again, placement of modifiers is extremely important. Which sentence below is the only sentence that makes the point that Eliza tells Larry she loves him but does not really mean what she is saying?

Answer: Eliza only said that she loves Larry.

The sentence to choose would be the one that claims Eliza only spoke the words; in other words she was giving "lip service," as some say. "Eliza said that she loves only Larry" means she loves Larry -- and no one else. "Only Eliza said that she loves Larry" means that out of several people being considered, only Eliza spoke up to declare her love for Larry. "Eliza said that only she loves Larry" means that Eliza is cruelly declaring that no one else cares for Larry but her.

Source: Author alaspooryoric

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Modifiers: The Good, the Bad, and the Badly Quiz

I've put together a little something about adjectives and adverbs to quiz your knowledge about words and phrases used as modifiers in the English language. All questions and answers use Standard American English rules of grammar.

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>