We explain what an indirect modifier is, its relationship with the core of the subject and various examples. Also, what is a direct modifier.
Indirect modifiers can encompass complex structures.What is an indirect modifier?
In grammar, an indirect modifier is a type of words that characterize or determine the core of the subject, both at a grammatical and semantic level. They may be subordinate to the nucleus indirectly (that is, through intermediaries). They are found in the bimembres sentences (that is, those that have a subject and predicate).
That is, it is a type of words (generally adjectives, articles, pronouns or combinations of adjectives and adverbs) that are part of the noun phrase of the subject of the sentence thanks to the bridge that a preposition or a nexus, and that accompany the core of it, pointing out or determining its characteristics. The presence of a nexus distinguishes them from direct modifiers.
Indirect Modifiers (MI) can be longer or shorter, depending on the number of words within. In addition to the preposition or nexus, they can consist of short noun phrases (an article, a noun, an adjective) or can encompass more complex structures, with verbs and subordinate content.
For example, in the prayer: "The cats from my aunt Justina they are immense ”, there is a subject (“ My Aunt Justina's cats ”) and a predicate (“ they are immense ”). The core of the subject is the noun "cats", and its direct modifier, the article "Los". It also has an indirect modifier, linked to it thanks to the bridge of the preposition "de": "from my aunt Justina", a whole phrase that operates as an adjective, that is, that adds meanings to the noun.
Examples of indirect modifiers
Some examples of indirect modification are as follows:
- "The Spanish teacher has a hold on me" (MI: Spanish).
- "The best friend of my cousin Juan is an anthropologist" (MI: of my cousin Juan).
- “The Christmas present for your dad has arrived” (MI: Christmas, for your dad).
- “The government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland forbids me” (MI: of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
- “Travelers with a European passport will get off the plane first” (MI: with a European passport).
- "A nation under the tutelage of a world power of the caliber of the United States can hardly be called sovereign" (MI: under the tutelage of a world power of the caliber of the United States).
Direct modifiers
Unlike indirect modifiers, which join with the noun thanks to a bridge (that is, indirectly), direct modifiers (DM) do not require intermediaries, but go directly next to the noun, within the phrase where is found. Many of them express grammatical meanings, such as gender and number, of the noun.
For example, in the sentence “A nice man asked him the time”, we have a sentence subject: “A nice man” and a predicate: “he asked him the time”. Within the subject is the nucleus ("man") and two direct modifiers: "Un" (indeterminate article, masculine and singular), and "sympathetic" (adjective).