{"id":11048,"date":"2016-02-24T20:17:53","date_gmt":"2016-02-24T20:17:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/?p=11048"},"modified":"2019-09-05T15:58:06","modified_gmt":"2019-09-05T15:58:06","slug":"gmat-grammar-biweekly-adverbial-modifiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/blog\/gmat-grammar-biweekly-adverbial-modifiers\/","title":{"rendered":"GMAT Grammar Biweekly: Adverbial Modifiers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Have you been following our grammar tips series? We\u2019ve already talked about opening modifiers and noun modifiers. We\u2019re almost done with this much-feared topic. If you\u2019re still having problems, it\u2019s probably with adverbial modifiers.<\/p>\n

These can be the most overwhelming, so let\u2019s break them down now. Back to our favorite modifier-riddled sentence:<\/p>\n

Barking ferociously, the dog, which was known to be vicious, ran down the street, chasing the boy who had been poking at it just moments before.<\/strong><\/p>\n

An adverbial modifier is something that describes almost anything in the world that is not a noun. There\u2019s actually a one-word adverbial modifier in our ferocious dog sentence (or, put far more simply, an adverb). Go back and see if you can find it.It\u2019s the second word in the sentence; ferociously. But \u201cbarking ferociously\u201d is a noun modifier. \u201cFerociously\u201d is an adverbial modifier. If you\u2019re wearing a confused\/exasperated\/annoyed expression, you\u2019re not alone. Don\u2019t worry \u2013 the GMAT isn\u2019t going to go so crazy as to have you dissect clauses word-by-word, but we can use this adverb to start explaining the role of an adverbial modifier.<\/p>\n

Step back and try to focus on meaning. What, exactly, is \u201cferociously\u201d? Your first instinct may be the dog, but there\u2019s a problem with that instinct. Take a moment and create a sentence that describes a dog using that word. Here\u2019s what I came up with:<\/p>\n

The dog is ferociously.<\/p>\n

Wait. Full stop. What I just wrote sounds really wrong. And it is really wrong! The sentence that makes sense is:<\/p>\n

The dog is ferocious.<\/p>\n

A dog can be ferocious, but cannot be ferociously. Go back to the original sentence and see if you can now find something that is described as \u201cferociously.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the way the dog is barking! The dog is barking<\/em> ferociously. Adverbial modifiers describe verbs, adjective, clauses, and anything else that is not a noun.<\/p>\n

The GMAT will often test adverbial modifiers using present participles. Translated for the non-grammarian: words ending in \u2013ing. If you see \u201c, -ing\u201d think about what the \u2013ing is describing. It is often the entire clause before the comma. Practice IDing what is being described by the adverbial modifier in each of these sentences:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The girl sat near the river, cooling her feet in the water.<\/li>\n
  2. Companies are more likely to report positive outcomes than negative ones, causing investors to make suspect decisions, though the information is available to those who look hard enough.<\/li>\n
  3. After taking up drumming, John seemed to constantly get complaints from the neighbors, forcing him to soundproof his garage.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    What\u2019s being described by each \u2013ing modifier is more complex than we\u2019ve seen with noun modifiers. Here\u2019s a basic breakdown of the meaning:<\/p>\n

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    1. \u201cCooling her feet\u201d is modifying how the girl sits. Think of it as a result. She sits. Therefore, her feet are cooled. The cooling is describing what is happening because she\u2019s sitting, not just the girl.<\/li>\n
    2. What is \u201ccausing investors to make suspect decisions\u201d? That companies skew their reporting. Again, the adverbial modifier is describing what happens because of the action, not just describing the company or the reports.<\/li>\n
    3. The third is the same as the first two. What forced the soundproofing? Getting complaints. A large idea is being described, so we\u2019re dealing with adverbial modifiers.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Seem simple enough? Look at the meaning to figure out what is being modified. If it\u2019s an idea that\u2019s larger than a noun, insert an adverbial modifier. Before we wrap up, let\u2019s take a look at how the GMAT might throw in some flawed sentences. See if you can find and fix the errors:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Everyone was enjoying the party, except Susan, calling her best friend and complaining about the evening.<\/li>\n
      2. Mike developed a game called Gongu, which pushed him to the limits of his developing ability.<\/li>\n
      3. Jordan and Kyle, racing against each other, were both in fourth grade.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        All of these are GMAT-wrong, though some may have sounded right, and some may even be sentences you would happily say in actual speech. Let\u2019s break this down GMAT style.<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. \u201cCalling her best friend…\u201d describes Susan. This is a problem because Susan is clearly a noun (don\u2019t you think \u201cnoun\u201d every time you see Susan?), but the modifier is adverbial. Let\u2019s swap it out for a noun modifier.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Everyone was enjoying the party, except Susan, who was calling her best friend and complaining about the evening.<\/em><\/p>\n

            \n
          1. What pushed Mike to his limits? There\u2019s two possible answers. Either the game itself, Gongu, or the act of developing the game. Fortunately, the sentence gives you a hint about which is correct. It\u2019s his developing ability, so it makes sense that developing the game was challenging, not necessarily playing it. That\u2019s not a simple noun, it\u2019s a verb (with some extra specifics tacked on). \u201c, which\u201d is a noun modifier, so, again, we need to make a swap.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Mike developed a game called Gongu, pushing himself to the limits of his developing ability.<\/em><\/p>\n

              \n
            1. This can be a toughie, even though it\u2019s the shortest sentence. Racing is meant to describe the boys, but can\u2019t because it\u2019s adverbial. The easy fix is to make it a noun modifier:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              Jordan and Kyle, who were racing against each other, were both in fourth grade.<\/em><\/p>\n

              but let\u2019s not take the easy way out. How can you change the sentence so that an adverbial modifier works? You\u2019d have to make \u201cracing\u2026\u201d modify the entire clause, not just the boys.<\/p>\n

              Jordan and Kyle, racing against each other, showed their competitive spirits.<\/em><\/p>\n

              Now the adverbial modifier works because racing illustrates how the boys are showing their competitive sides, not just the boys themselves.<\/p>\n

              Adverbial modifiers can be tricky, but focus on their intended meaning, then compare that to actual meaning. If you want a more thorough discussion of modifiers, visit Chapter 6 of our Sentence Correction Strategy Guide<\/a>.\u00a0?<\/p>\n

              \n

              Of course, the most in-depth way to learn the ins-and-outs of the GMAT is to take a complete course<\/a> with one of\u00a0our master instructors. You can try out any first session for free! No strings attached. We promise.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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              \"Emily<\/a>Emily Madan<\/a> is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Philadelphia.\u00a0<\/strong>Having scored in the 99th percentile of the GMAT (770) and LSAT (177), Emily is committed to helping others achieve their full potential.\u00a0In the classroom, she loves bringing concepts to life and her greatest thrill is that moment when a complex topic suddenly becomes clear to her students. Check out Emily\u2019s upcoming GMAT courses here<\/a>. Your first class is always free!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We\u2019re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here. Have you been following our grammar tips series? We\u2019ve already talked about opening modifiers and noun modifiers. We\u2019re almost done with this much-feared topic. If […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[929,26,10],"tags":[52764,267],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-11048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gmat-prep","category-sentence-correction","category-verbal-on-gmat","tag-adverbial-modifiers","tag-gmat-grammar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11048"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11053,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11048\/revisions\/11053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11048"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=11048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}