Modifiers are words that give more information about things. They are used like adjectives. Modifiers describe qualities and follow the verb be or things that mean be.

Adjectives describe size, age, importance, colour and other important qualities. They usually go before nouns. One important thing to remember about adjectives is that English adjectives are NEVER plural. In English, only nouns can be plural. If they are subjects of a verb, the verb takes a plural form (never ending in -s )

Notice that if an anglophone hears "differents" or "importants" he will understand difference or importance. "Differents" and "importants" do not exist in English.

Noun Modifiers

One of the reasons English is shorter than French is because of its use of nouns to modify other nouns. A "noun modifier" is a noun that is used like an adjective.

Again, English and French are different. French is a "count-up" language (the important things go at the beginning) whereas English is a "count-down" language (think of a rocket launch: "3, 2, 1, blast-off " ). The order of the words indicates their use.

Do you see how much shorter that is? Again, it is the order of the words that is important. The final noun is the main one and it can be plural. Whatever nouns come before it are used as adjectives, which are always singular. Consequently, Noun Modifiers are almost always singular*. Here are some common examples:

*Exceptions: clothes, sports, sales