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Modifiers

A modifier is any word, phrase or clause that is used in a sentence to describe something. Two of the most common modifiers are adjectives and adverbs - adjectives describe nouns or pronouns, whereas adverbs describe verbs.

Modifiers are one of your best friends in keeping your writing varied and interesting. They can turn boring, straightforward sentences into interesting ones.

The elephant moved quickly.

While this sentence does tell the reader something, it’s not exactly the most interesting sentence. We can make it more interesting by tacking on a modifier:

Despite its large bulk, the elephant moved quickly.

We’ve added some more information about the elephant and put some contrast into the sentence - talking about how an animal can still move quickly even though you would think its large weight would slow it down.