Do you know what a restrictive modifier is? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on restrictive modifier, including its definition, usage, example sentences, and more!
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Kevin
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January 2, 2022
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Common Questions
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What is a restrictive modifier?
According to Grammar Monster, a restrictive modifier is a modifier that defines a specific element and is often not offset with commas. This modifier is essential for the understanding of the noun or verb it is describing and the sentence’s meaning. A restrictive modifier is often also a restrictive clause, and a nonrestrictive modifier is often in a non-restrictive clause. These can both be known as an adjective clause, including restrictive relative clauses and nonrestrictive relative clauses. One can use punctuation to identify a modifier or modifying clause. You can use commas, dashes, and more to show where these clauses that act as adjectives or adverbs are.
A non-restrictive modifier, on the other hand, is non-essential. If it is deleted, the meaning of the sentence is largely the same and is still an independent clause. These can be offset with commas, parentheses, or brackets. Nonrestrictive modifiers simple provide additional information. In American English, nonrestrictive modifiers are also called a nonessential modifier. There are many types of modifiers including adverbial restrictive modifiers, an adverbial clause, adjective phrases, adverb clause and more that affect the modified element or meaning of the noun/modified word.
Many different languages also contain words that mean restrictive. You may notice that some of these translations of restrictive look and sound similar to one another. These are called cognates, which are words and phrases in different languages that likely have the same root or language of origin, causing them to sound the same. The below list of translations of restrictive is provided by Word Sense.
- Indonesian: ketat
- Bulgarian: ограничителен (ograničítelen)
- Slovak: obmedzujúci
- Hindi: प्रतिबंधात्मक (pratibandhātmak)
- Japanese: 限定的 (げんていてき, genteiteki)
- Korean: 한정적인 (hanjeongjeogin), 제한하다
- German: einschränkend, restriktiv
- Arabic: تَقْيِيدِيّ
- Latvian: ierobežojošus
- Spanish: restrictivo
- Romanian: restrictiv
- Roman: restriktivan
- Czech: omezující, restriktivní
- Belarusian: абмежавальны (abmjéžavalʹny)
- Finnish: rajoittava
- Persian: محدود (mahdud)
- Macedonian: ограничителен (ograničítelen), рестриктивен
- Vietnamese: hạn chế
- Urdu: مؤکد
- Turkish: kısıtlayıcı
- Russian: ограничи́тельный
- Malay: ketat
- Greek: περιοριστική
- Portuguese: restritivo
- Hungarian: korlátozó
- Estonian: piiravate
- Slovene: omejevalen
- Lithuanian: ribojančių
- Bokmål: restriktiv
- Catalan: restrictiu
- Latin: restrictivus
- Thai: จำกัด (jamgàt)
- Polish: ograniczający
- Danish: restriktive
- Cyrillic: рестриктиван
- Ukrainian: обмежувальний (obméžuvalʹnyj)
- French: restrictif
- Italian: restrittivo
- Dutch: beperkend
- Mandarin: 限制性 (xiànzhìxìng)
What are examples of restrictive modifiers?
A restrictive modifier can be used in many different contexts in the English language. Trying to use a word or literary technique in a sentence is one of the best ways to memorize what it is, but you can also try making flashcards or quizzes that test your knowledge. Try using this term of the day in a sentence today! These examples can help get you started incorporating this tool into your everyday use. Try to use the term restrictive modifiers today or notice when someone else is using a restrictive modifier.Take a look at these examples from Grammar Monster and Grammar Monster and see if you can identify the essential information in the first sentence and second sentence.:
- The farmers in Missouri that hand out the free jam gave me a jar today.
- The third spirit appeared at 2 o’clock.
- My sister who is married won the lottery.
- The marathon which is in Boston is happening in April. The human beings will don their socks and shows and run all over the city.
- The red car parked at the high school has been abandoned since September.
- My brother who lives in Chicago posted on Facebook about his new baby.
- My brother Mark owns a blue vase.
- I love that I have a job that I love. (Russian skater Ekaterina Gordeeva)
- Take the cake out of the oven when the alarm sounds.
- The girl who stole the bread is back.
- When the alarm sounds, take the cake out of the oven.
- Given a choice between two theories, take the one which is funnier.
- The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. (Philosopher Saint Augustine)
- At 2 o’clock, the third spirit appeared.
- A man’s character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation. (Writer Mark Twain)
- The cousins that I visit every summer were taught a lesson on behavior yesterday.
- Take the cake out of the oven when the alarm sounds.
- The ornament that the dog chewed was worth more than my car.
- Batman can handle sadness and depression. You throw happiness at him? That’s something that riles him. That’s something that he’s not used to. (Author Tom King)
- It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues. (President Abraham Lincoln)
- How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese? (French President Charles De Gaulle)
- I’m leaving because it’s raining.
- Famished from the journey, John decided to hunker down with his horse.
- I live in that solitude which is painful in youth but delicious in the years of maturity. (Physicist Albert Einstein)
- Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them. (Poet Paul Valery)
- The horse which led the way for the whole race fell at the last fence.
- Because it’s raining, I’m leaving.
- The man who hit me with his bike gave me an apology.
- John decided to hunker down with his horse, famished from the journey.
- The study shoes that I bought in August are already ripping.
- Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. (Writer Edgar Allan Poe)
- My brother with a house in London is visiting on Saturday.
- My brother who lives in London is visiting on Saturday.
Overall, a restrictive modifier is crucial to the meaning of a noun.
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