Modifiers, as their name implies, are words that modify. Specifically, they’re words that modify their sentences’ meanings. How do you specify what somebody looks like? With modifiers. How do you describe how an action is being performed? With a

MODIFIERS
Modifiers, as their name implies, are words that modify. Specifically, they’re words that modify their sentences’ meanings. How do you specify what somebody looks like? With modifiers. How do you describe how an action is being performed? With a modifier. How do you communicate where, when, or how something happened? You guessed it—with modifiers. 
What is a modifier?
As we mentioned above, modifiers are words that modify their sentences’ meanings. Take a look at these two examples: 

• 
  I rode the train. 
  
• 
  I rode the earliest train into the city.
  

The second sentence is more descriptive because of the modifiers it contains. Fundamentally, modifiers’ purpose is to make sentences more descriptive or detailed. They can make a sentence’s meaning clearer, make a sentence more specific, or simply make it more engaging. Both of the example sentences above are complete sentences, but only one provides additional details about the train ride. These details, depending on how this sentence fits into a larger conversation, could serve as foreshadowing, clarification, distinction between this and another statement, or a means to hook the listener’s attention. 
The second sentence contains both a modifier and a modifier phrase. While a modifier is a single word that alters a sentence’s meaning, a modifier phrase is a phrase that functions as a modifier. This is similar to how adjective phrases are phrases that function as adjectives, noun phrases are phrases that function as nouns, and other grammatical phrases function as specific parts of speech. 
A few examples of single words that may be used as modifiers are: 

• 
  First
  
• 
  Yellow
  
• 
  Outdoor
  
• 
  Flying
  

Modifier phrases, which can be adverbial or adjectival phrases, are phrases like:

• 
  Beneath the car
  
• 
  A somewhat slow
  
• 
  Without a care
  

Sometimes, clauses act as modifiers. These, too, are generally either adverbial or adjectival and can look like:

• 
  When the sun rises
  
• 
  Who wore gray jeans
  
• 
  With excitement in her eyes
  

Here are a few examples of modifier phrases in action: 

• 
  We waited until the last minute to mention our concerns. 
  
• 
  The kid with green sneakers kicked the ball.
  

And here are some examples of modifier clauses working in sentences:

• 
  My sister won the contest, as she had hoped. 
  
• 
  The pedestrian, who had been waiting for fifteen minutes, didn’t step aside.