Editing Grammatical modifier (section)

{{Short description|Optional element in phrase or clause structure}}
{{more citations needed|date=February 2018}}
In [[linguistics]], a '''modifier''' is an optional element in [[phrase]] structure or [[clause]] structure<ref>{{cite book|last1=Huddleston|first1=Rodney|last2=Pullum|first2=Geoffrey K.|year=2002|title=[[The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language]]|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-43146-8}}</ref> which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the [[adjective]] "red" acts as a modifier in the [[noun phrase]] "red ball", providing extra details about which particular ball is being referred to. Similarly, the [[adverb]] "quickly" acts as a modifier in the verb [[phrase]] "run quickly". Modification can be considered a high-level domain of the functions of language, on par with [[Predicate (grammar)|predication]] and [[reference]].<ref name="Rijkhoff2014">{{cite book | last=Rijkhoff | first=Jan | title=Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics | chapter=Modification as a propositional act in Functional Discourse Grammar | publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company | publication-place=Amsterdam | year=2014 | issn=1385-7916 | doi=10.1075/sfsl.68.06rij | pages=129–150|editor1-last=de los Ángeles Gómez González|editor1-first=María|editor2-last=de Mendoza Ibáñez|editor2-first=Francisco José Ruiz|editor3-last=Gonzálvez-García|editor3-first=Francisco|url=https://benjamins.com/catalog/sfsl.68.06rij}}</ref>