The third step of a sentence flow is to put the supporting words and phrases under the words which they modify.
Displaying Modifiers
Now that you have displayed the skeleton of the sentence, it is now time to display the modifiers under the term which they modify. There are three types of modifiers will deal with at first: adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases. If you need review of these parts of speech, please check out the Grammar Review.
Prepositional Phrases:
Prepositional phrases are displayed underneath the noun or verb which they modify (slightly indented for clarity).
The best way to determine which noun or verb a prepositional phrase describes is to ask if it answers the questions
The best way to determine which noun or verb a prepositional phrase describes is to ask if it answers the questions
What kind of ____(noun)?or
How, when, where, in what way, etc. does the subject do the action of the verb?If the prepositional phrase answers these questions about a particular term, then it should be displayed under that term.
For Example:
...I received from my Father.- John 10:18
from my Fatheranswers the question
from where did He receive?i.e.
received from my Father
Therefore, these words would be displayed like this:
received
from my Father
from my Father
A few special cases to watch out for with prepositional phrases:
• More than one prepositional phrase can modify the same noun or verb.
Example
X Close
...reconcile them to God through the cross.- Deut. 25:3
would be displayed as:
reconcile
to God
through the cross
to God
through the cross
• A prepositional phrase can modify the object (noun) of another prepositional phrase.
Example
X Close
...book of the annals of the kings of Judah- 2 Kings 24:5
would be displayed as:
book
of the annals
of the kings
of Judah
of the annals
of the kings
of Judah
• A very common, but easily missed prepositional phrase is those with
of...
Example
X Close
...thirteenth day of the month...- Esther 9:16
would be displayed as:
day
of the month
of the month
• Sometimes it is somewhat ambiguous whether a prepositional phrase modifies the verb or a noun.
Example
X Close
...you build tombs for the prophets- Matt. 23:29
could be displayed as:
build
for the prophets
(if Jesus meant to emphasize that they built them for the prophets)
for the prophets
(if Jesus meant to emphasize that they built them for the prophets)
or it could be displayed as:
tombs
for the prophets
(if Jesus meant to emphasize that the tombs were for the prophets)
for the prophets
(if Jesus meant to emphasize that the tombs were for the prophets)
