What is govern,modify and qualify

[Sathish Kumar]

Hi,

I would like to know what does govern, modify and qualify mean.



1. Like a verb, a participle may govern a noun or pronoun.

E.g. Hearing the noice, the boy woke up

2. Like averb, a particple may be modified by an adverb.

E.g. Loudly knocking at the gate, he demanded admission.

3. Like an adjective, a participle may qualify a noun or pronoun.

E.g. Having rested, the men containued their journey.

The problem is that I get confused between govern, modify and qualify when I try to figure out the sentence pattens.

So, please help me to clear this confusion.

Thanks
Sathish

[Casiopea]

1. Like a verb, a participle may govern a noun or pronoun.

E.g. Hearing the noice, the boy woke up

The phrase, "Hearing the notice" is headed by a participle, the participle "Hearing". That word heads or "governs" the phrase. It rules it. Its object "the noise", a noun, does not head the phrase.

2. Like adverbs, a particple may be modified by an adverb.

E.g. Loudly knocking at the gate, he demanded admission.

The adverb "Loudly" adds to the meaning of the participle "knocking". Note, ad- in "adverb" means, "add to". Adverbs can be omitted without changing the sentence's core meaning; e.g., Knocking at the gate, . . . ", whereas the head of a phrase, the word that governs the phrase, cannot be omitted; e.g., *The noise, the boy woke up.

3. Like an adjective, a participle may qualify a noun or pronoun.

E.g. Having rested, the men continued their journey.

"Having rested" refers to the noun "the men",

EX: The men, having rested, continued their journey.