Modifiers
Lesson 5
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Modifiers Summary: The Touch Rule
Modifier Common Structure Example
Adjective One word ✔The GMAT exam is difficult.
Adverb One word: Adjective-ly ✔You have to study diligently.
Prepositional Of, in, on, at, with, over ✔The book on the table contains great information.
Phrase
Present Participle Verb-ING ✔The woman studying for the GMAT is very smart.
✔Studying for the GMAT, the woman achieved a high score.
✔She studied very hard, achieving a high score. (consequence)
Past Participle Verb-ED or Irregular ✔Developed four decades ago, the GMAT is an adaptive exam.
✔The exam taken by the students was challenging.
Relative Clause That, Which, When, ✔The exam that I took yesterday was complex.
Where, Who, etc. ✔The exam, which I took yesterday, was complex.
Noun Phrase Noun phrase…, S + V. ✔An experienced economist, the student has sharp critical
reasoning skills.
Absolute Phrase S + V…, [noun + ✔He took the GMAT, an exam that is difficult.
modifier] ✔He came out of the testing center, his head held high.
Perfect Gerund Having + Past Participle ✔Having aced the exam, he decided to apply to Stanford GSB.
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Adjectives vs. Adverbs
✔Adjectives: modify
Nouns.
✔Adverbs: modify Verbs,
Adjectives, and Adverbs.
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Question 1
Dr. Tonegawa won the Nobel Prize for discovering how
the body can constantly change its genes to fashion a
seeming unlimited number of antibodies, each
specifically targeted at an invading microbe or foreign
substance.
A. seeming unlimited number of antibodies, each
specifically targeted at
B. seeming unlimited number of antibodies, each
targeted specifically to
C. seeming unlimited number of antibodies, all
specifically targeted at
D. seemingly unlimited number of antibodies, all of
them targeted specifically to
E. seemingly unlimited number of antibodies, each
targeted specifically at
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Participles: Past vs. Present
Present Participles: Verb-ING.
✔Verb-ing…, S + V.
✔S + V, verb-ing…
Past Participles: Verb-ED or Irregular
✔Verb-ED…, S + V.
✔Noun, verb-ED
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Question 2
Using a Doppler ultrasound device, fetal heartbeats
can be detected by the twelfth week of pregnancy.
A. Using a Doppler ultrasound device, fetal heart-
beats can be detected by the twelfth week of
pregnancy.
B. Fetal heartbeats can be detected by the twelfth
week of pregnancy, using a Doppler ultrasound
device.
C. Detecting fetal heartbeats by the twelfth week
of pregnancy, a physician can use a Doppler
ultrasound device.
D. By the twelfth week of pregnancy, fetal
heartbeats can be detected using a Doppler
ultrasound device by a physician.
E. Using a Doppler ultrasound device, a physician
can detect fetal heartbeats by the twelfth week
of pregnancy.
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Question 3
Spanning more than fifty years, Friedrich Muller
began his career in an unpromising apprenticeship as
a Sanskrit scholar and culminated in virtually every
honor that European governments and learned
societies could bestow.
A. Muller began his career in an unpromising
apprenticeship as
B. Muller’s career began in an unpromising
apprenticeship as
C. Muller’s career began with the unpromising
apprenticeship of being
D. Muller had begun his career with the
unpromising apprenticeship of being
E. the career of Muller has begun with an
unpromising apprenticeship of
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Question 4
Five fledgling sea eagles left their nests in
western Scotland this summer, bringing to
34 the number of wild birds successfully
raised since transplants from Norway began
in 1975.
A. bringing
B. and brings
C. and it brings
D. and it brought
E. and brought
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Question 5
Delighted by the reported earnings for the first
quarter of the fiscal year, it was decided by the
company manager to give her staff a raise.
A. it was decided by the company manager to give
her staff a raise
B. the decision of the company manager was to
give her staff a raise
C. the company manager decided to give her staff
a raise
D. the staff was given a raise by the company
manager
E. a raise was given to the staff by the company
manager
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Relative Pronouns: Which, That, When,
Where, Who
✔Which vs. That: describe
animals or objects. “Which” must
be set off by commas.
✔When: describes time periods.
✔Where: describes places.
✔Who: describes people
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Question 6
Carnivorous mammals can endure what would
otherwise be lethal levels of body heat because they
have a heat-exchange network which kept the brain
from getting too hot.
A. which kept
B. that keeps
C. which has kept
D. that has been keeping
E. having kept
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Question 7
About 7,500 years ago, a torrent of water poured
through the Bosporus into the Black Sea, raising the
water level 500 feet within a year.
A. a torrent of water poured through the Bosporus
into the Black Sea, raising the water level
B. a torrent of water poured through the Bosporus
into the Black Sea, which raised the water level
C. a torrent of water poured into the Black Sea
through the Bosporus, which raised the water
level
D. the Black Sea had a torrent of water poured into it
through the Bosporus, raising the water level
E. the Black Sea had the water level raised by a
torrent of water pouring into it through the
Bosporus
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Question 8
As a result of medical advances, many people that
might at one time have died as children of such
infections as diphtheria, pneumonia, or rheumatic
fever now live well into old age.
A. that might at one time have died as children
B. who might once have died in childhood
C. that as children might once have died
D. who in childhood might have at one time died
E. who, when they were children, might at one
time have died
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Question 9
By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen
official national and international speed records, and she
earned them at a time when aviation was still so new for
many of the planes she flew to be of dangerously
experimental design.
A. and she earned them at a time when aviation was
still so new for many of the planes she flew to be
B. earning them at a time that aviation was still so new
for many of the planes she flew to be
C. earning these at a time where aviation was still so
new that many of the planes she flew were
D. earned at a time in which aviation was still so new
such that many of the planes she flew were
E. earned at a time when aviation was still so new that
many of the planes she flew were
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Nouns Phrase Modifiers
Noun Phrase:
✔Noun phrase, S + V.
Absolute Phrase:
✔S + V, Noun + Modifier.
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Question 10
Architects and stonemasons, huge palace and temple clusters
were built by the Maya without benefit of the wheel or animal
transport.
A. huge palace and temple clusters were built by the Maya
without benefit of the wheel or animal transport
B. without the benefits of animal transport or the wheel, huge
palace and temple clusters were built by the Maya
C. the Maya built huge palace and temple clusters without the
benefit of animal transport or the wheel
D. there were built, without the benefit of the wheel or animal
transport, huge palace and temple clusters by the Maya
E. were the Maya who, without the benefit of the wheel or
animal transport, built huge palace and temple clusters
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Question 11
Yellow jackets number among the 900 or so species of the
world’s social wasps, wasps living in a highly cooperative
and organized society where they consist almost entirely of
females—the queen and her sterile female workers.
A. wasps living in a highly cooperative and organized
society where they consist almost entirely of
B. wasps that live in a highly cooperative and organized
society consisting almost entirely of
C. which means they live in a highly cooperative and
organized society, almost all
D. which means that their society is highly cooperative,
organized, and it is almost entirely
E. living in a society that is highly cooperative, organized,
and it consists of almost all
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Because vs. Due to
Because: Verb Modifier
✔Because…, S + V.
Due to: Noun Modifier
✔S + [to be] + due to…
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Question 12
Because an oversupply of computer chips has sent
prices plunging, the manufacturer has announced that
it will cut production by closing its factories for two
days a month.
A. Because an oversupply of computer chips has sent
prices plunging,
B. Because of plunging prices for computer chips,
which is due to an oversupply,
C. Because computer chip prices have been sent
plunging, which resulted from an oversupply,
D. Due to plunging computer chip prices from an
oversupply,
E. Due to an oversupply, with the result that
computer chip prices have been sent plunging,
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Question 13
On account of a law passed in 1993, making it a crime
punishable by imprisonment that a United States citizen hold
gold in the form of bullion or coins, immigrants found that on
arrival in the United States they had to surrender all of the gold
they had brought with them.
A. On account of a law passed in 1993, making it a crime
punishable by imprisonment that a United States citizen
hold
B. With a law passed in 1993 that makes it a crime punishable
by imprisonment that a United States citizen hold
C. A law passed in 1993 that made it a crime punishable by
imprisonment for a United States citizen holding
D. Because of a law passed in 1993 making it a crime
punishable by imprisonment for a United States citizen to
hold
E. Due to a law being passed in 1993 that makes it a crime
punishable by imprisonment for a United States citizen to
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Perfect Gerund
Having + Past Participle
✔Having + past participle…, S +
V…
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Question 14
Neuroscientists, having amassed a wealth of knowledge
over the past twenty years about the brain and its
development from birth to adulthood, are now drawing
solid conclusions about how the human brain grows and
how babies acquire language.
A. Neuroscientists, having amassed a wealth of
knowledge over the past twenty years about the brain
and its development from birth to adulthood, are
B. Neuroscientists, having amassed a wealth of
knowledge about the brain and its development from
birth to adulthood over the past twenty years, and are
C. Neuroscientists amassing a wealth of knowledge about
the brain and its development from birth to adulthood
over the past twenty years, and are
D. Neuroscientists have amassed a wealth of knowledge
over the past twenty years about the brain and its
development from birth to adulthood,
E. Neuroscientists have amassed, over the past twenty
years, a wealth of knowledge about the brain and its
development from birth to adulthood,
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Countable vs. Uncountable Modifiers
Countable Uncountable
Many apples Much hope Coins
Apples Sugar
Hope
Few Little Wate
Books
r
Fewer Less
Fewest Least
Countable (Plural) Uncountable
Number Amount
Numerous Great
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Question 15
A report by the American Academy for the
Advancement of Science has concluded that much of
the currently uncontrolled dioxins to which North
Americans are exposed comes from the incineration
of wastes.
A. much of the currently uncontrolled dioxins to
which North Americans are exposed comes
B. much of the currently uncontrolled dioxins that
North Americans are exposed to come
C. much of the dioxins that are currently
uncontrolled and that North Americans are
exposed to comes
D. many of the dioxins that are currently
uncontrolled and North Americans are exposed
to come
E. many of the currently uncontrolled dioxins to
which North Americans are exposed come
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Question 16
Downzoning, zoning that typically results in the
reduction of housing density, allows for more
open space in areas where little water or
services exist.
A. little water or services exist
B. little water or services exists
C. few services and little water exists
D. there is little water or services available
E. there are few services and little available
water
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Question 17
Nearly two tons of nuclear-reactor fuel have already
been put into orbit around the Earth, and the chances
of a collision involving such material increase greatly as
the amount of both space debris and satellites
continue to rise.
A. as the amount of both space debris and satellites
continue to rise
B. as the rise continues in both the amount of
satellites and space debris
C. as the amount of space debris and the number of
satellites continue to rise
D. with the continually increasing amount of space
debris and the number of satellites
E. with the amount of space debris continuing to
increase along with the number of satellites
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Answer Key
1) E
2) E
3) B
4) A
5) C
6) B
7) A
8) B
9) E
10) E
11) B
12) A
13) D
14) A
15) E
16) E
17) C
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