Modifiers and comparison

An opening participial phrase attaches to the subject that follows it, so that subject must be the thing doing the action. In the faulty version the vote reviewed the proposal. The repair is almost always to change the main clause, not the phrase: give the sentence a subject that can perform the action. Watch for this after having, while, after, before, when + -ing.

These words modify whatever comes immediately after them, and moving one moves the meaning. Only the department approved two, the department only approved two and the department approved only two are three different claims. Put the word directly in front of what it limits.

A relative clause modifies the noun immediately before it, so a clause stranded at the end of a sentence latches onto the wrong noun. Read what the sentence literally says — here, that the students contained the errors — and move the clause up against the noun it belongs to.

A modifier sitting between two things it could modify leaves the reader unsure which is meant: did the telling happen after the exam, or the feedback? Adding that forces it forward; moving the phrase to the front forces it back. Either fix works — leaving it ambiguous does not.

Two items take the comparative, three or more take the superlative. The signal is usually a few words away — of the two, between them, both — so read past the adjective before deciding. The same split governs better / best, less / least and latter / last.

Use -er or more, never both, and the same for -est and most. The error usually appears in a list where the earlier items were formed correctly, which is what makes it easy to read past.

One syllable takes -er (larger, shorter); three or more take more (more significant); two syllables go either way, with -y words taking -er (easier, happier). The irregulars: good / better / best, bad / worse / worst, little / less / least, much / more / most, and the split between farther for physical distance and further for degree or addition.

As pairs with as; more and -er pair with than. Mixing them is the commonest version. The subtler one is the compressed double comparison: as good as, if not better than needs both halves complete, because as good, if not better than leaves the first comparison unfinished.

Multiples use twice / three times as many … as, never twice more … than. Proportional pairs need the before both comparatives: the larger … the more reliable, not larger … more reliable.

When several adjectives stack before a noun, English fixes their order: opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material, purpose. Native speakers never learn this consciously but notice instantly when it is broken. Two or three adjectives is the practical limit before the sentence should be rewritten.

Some adjectives name an absolute state and cannot be graded: complete, unique, perfect, impossible, equal, fatal, final, universal. Something is not more perfect or very unique. Words of approach — almost, nearly, virtually — are acceptable where words of degree are not.

An adverb of manner cannot sit between a verb and its direct object. Put it after the object, or before the verb. Frequency adverbs behave differently: they go before the main verb but after be and after an auxiliary — she often attends, she is often late, she has often argued.