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In grammar, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure.〔Cambridge Grammar of the English Language〕 A modifier is so called because it is said to ''modify'' (change the meaning of) another element in the structure, on which it is dependent. Typically the modifier can be removed without affecting the grammar of the sentence. For example, in the English sentence ''This is a red ball'', the adjective ''red'' is a modifier, modifying the noun ''ball''. Removal of the modifier would leave ''This is a ball'', which is grammatically correct and equivalent in structure to the original sentence. Other terms used with a similar meaning are ''qualifier'' (the word ''qualify'' may be used in the same way as ''modify'' in this context), ''attribute'', and ''adjunct''. These concepts are often distinguished from ''complements'' and ''arguments'', which may also be considered dependent on another element, but are considered an indispensable part of the structure. For example, in ''His face became red'', the word ''red'' might be called a complement or argument of ''became'', rather than a modifier or adjunct, since it cannot be omitted from the sentence. ==Premodifiers and postmodifiers== Modifiers may come either before or after the modified element (the ''head''), depending on the type of modifier and the rules of syntax for the language in question. A modifier placed before the head is called a premodifier; one placed after the head is called a postmodifier. For example, in ''land mines'', the word ''land'' is a premodifier of ''mines'', whereas in the phrase ''mines in wartime'', the phrase ''in wartime'' is a postmodifier of ''mines''. A head may have a number of modifiers, and these may include both premodifiers and postmodifiers. For example: * ''that nice tall man from Canada whom you met'' In this noun phrase, ''man'' is the head, ''nice'' and ''tall'' are premodifiers, and ''from Canada'' and ''whom you met'' are postmodifiers. Notice that in English, simple adjectives are usually used as premodifiers, with occasional exceptions such as ''galore'' (which always appears after the noun) and the phrases ''time immemorial'' and ''court martial'' (the latter comes from French, where most adjectives are postmodifiers). Sometimes placement of the adjective after the noun entails a change of meaning: compare ''a responsible person'' and ''the person responsible'', or ''the proper town'' (the appropriate town) and ''the town proper'' (the area of the town as properly defined). It is sometimes possible for a modifier to be separated from its head by other words, as in ''The man came who you bumped into in the street yesterday'', where the relative clause ''who...yesterday'' is separated from the word it modifies (''man'') by the word ''came''. This type of situation is especially likely in languages with free word order. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Grammatical modifier」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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