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Grammar

What Are Sentence Modifiers?

Modifiers add specificity to writing by adding details and information about other words in the sentence. Learn how to use modifiers without misplacing them!

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Trusted By Industry Leaders

Introduction

Our text compare tool is a fantastic, lightweight tool that provides plagiarism checks between two documents. Whether you are a student, blogger or publisher, this tool offers a great solution to detect and compare similarities between any two pieces of text. In this article, I will discuss the different ways to use the tool, the primary features of the tool and who this tool is for. There is an FAQ at the bottom if you run into any issues when trying to use the tool.

What makes Originality.ai’s text comparison tool stand out?

Keyword density helper – This tool comes with a built-in keyword density helper in some ways similar to the likes of SurferSEO or MarketMuse the difference being, ours is free! This feature shows the user the frequency of single or two word keywords in a document, meaning you can easily compare an article you have written against a competitor to see the major differences in keyword densities. This is especially useful for SEO’s who are looking to optimize their blog content for search engines and improve the blog’s visibility.

Ways to compare

File compare – Text comparison between files is a breeze with our tool. Simply select the files you would like to compare, hit “Upload” and our tool will automatically insert the content into the text area, then simply hit “Compare” and let our tool show you where the differences in the text are. By uploading a file, you can still check the keyword density in your content.

URL compare

Comparing text between URLs is effortless with our tool. Simply paste the URL you would like to get the content from (in our example we use a fantastic blog post by Sherice Jacob found here) hit “Submit URL” and our tool will automatically retrieve the contents of the page and paste it into the text area, then simply click “Compare” and let our tool highlight the difference between the URLs. This feature is especially useful for checking keyword density between pages!

Simple text compare

You can also easily compare text by copying and pasting it into each field, as demonstrated below.

Features of Originality.ai’s Text Compare Tool

Ease of use

Our text compare tool is created with the user in mind, it is designed to be accessible to everyone. Our tool allows users to upload files or enter a URL to extract text, this along with the lightweight design ensures a seamless experience. The interface is simple and straightforward, making it easy for users to compare text and detect the diff.

Multiple text file format support

Our tool provides support for a variety of different text files and microsoft word formats including pdf file, .docx, .odt, .doc, and .txt, giving users the ability to compare text from different sources with ease. This makes it a great solution for students, bloggers, and publishers who are looking for file comparison in different formats.

Protects intellectual property

Our text comparison tool helps you protect your intellectual property and helps prevent plagiarism. This tool provides an accurate comparison of texts, making it easy to ensure that your work is original and not copied from other sources. Our tool is a valuable resource for anyone looking to maintain the originality of their content.

User Data Privacy

Our text compare tool is secure and protects user data privacy. No data is ever saved to the tool, the users’ text is only scanned and pasted into the tool’s text area. This makes certain that users can use our tool with confidence, knowing their data is safe and secure.

Compatibility

Our text comparison tool is designed to work seamlessly across all size devices, ensuring maximum compatibility no matter your screen size. Whether you are using a large desktop monitor, a small laptop, a tablet or a smartphone, this tool adjusts to your screen size. This means that users can compare texts and detect the diff anywhere without the need for specialized hardware or software. This level of accessibility makes it an ideal solution for students or bloggers who value the originality of their work and need to compare text online anywhere at any time.

A modifier is a word or group of words that describes something else in a sentence. It modifies another word, phrase or clause by adding more information and details. Modifiers add the information that answers how much, what kind, where, when, how often, why and how in sentences 

Learn about sentence modifiers including types of modifiers and their placement in this guide.

Then, conveniently review your grammar and spelling with the Originality.ai Grammar Checker.

What Does a Modifier Do in a Sentence?

Without modifiers, there would be very few details in writing, and it would be difficult to tell things apart. While one person might have a fast, blue car, and another might have a red car with a sun roof, without modifiers, both people would just have a car. 

Modifiers aren’t necessary in sentences. The only things needed for a complete sentence are a subject, a verb, and the expression of a complete thought. Yet, modifiers are essential in most types of writing because they enhance sentences with detail, add depth and clarity, and make writing more engaging. 

Sometimes, adjectives help define the exact meaning of a sentence. When they are removed, the meaning is changed or even lost. 

Removing the words that contribute to the specificity of a writer’s thought or expression can take away the intended meaning of a sentence — and its ability to engage a reader. 

Types of Modifiers

Modifiers are typically adjectives, adverbs, or other forms of speech acting as adjectives or adverbs. 

Adjectives

Adjectives describe, define, or qualify nouns (persons, places, or things). By modifying the nouns in a sentence, adjectives add layers of meaning. They might appear before or after the noun they are modifying.

  • Quantitative adjectives: Add the “How many?” or “How Much?”
    • The car has four doors. 
  • Qualitative adjectives: Add the details about “What kind?” 
    • The sports car has four doors.
  • Possessive adjectives: Tell the reader, “Whose?”
    • His sports car has four doors. 
  • Proper adjectives: When a proper noun is used as an adjective.
    • His Italian sports car has four doors. 
  • Comparative and superlative: Describe the differences between two or more entities.
    • His sports car is faster than hers. 
    • Her sports car is the fastest of them all.

Some adjective types are specific words that modify a noun:

  • Demonstrative adjectives: Answer “Which one? (this, that, these, those
  • Interrogative adjectives: Ask a question (what, which, whose)
  • Articles: Point out specificity (a, an, the)

When several modifiers are used to describe one noun, there is a specific order in which they should appear, according to what aspect of the noun they describe: quantity, quality, size, age, shape/color, origin, material, and purpose. 

Adverbs

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, and whole clauses. Most adverbs end in -ly

  • They typically tell the reader more about the action in a sentence:
    • The coffee brewed quickly.
  • They can modify other adverbs, too:
    • The coffee brewed unusually slowly. 
  • Or they can modify adjectives:
    • That coffee tastes unusually bitter. 
  • They can also form a phrase, an adverbial phrase, to modify a verb, adjective or adverb:
    • The coffee spilled with a great splash. 

In each of these examples, an adverb modifies an action (brewed, spilled) or an adjective (bitter).

Prepositional Phrases as Modifiers

Prepositional phrases can modify a noun or noun phrase by acting as an adjective: The coffee on the table is cold

“On the table” is a prepositional phrase, and it’s not necessary for the complete sentence, but it does add specificity. Which coffee is cold? The coffee on the table.

Prepositional phrases can also act as adverbs: The coffee dripped into the cup. “Into the cup” modifies the action and tells the reader how the coffee dripped.

Modifiers Must Be Placed Near What They Modify

The placement of a modifier is key to a reader’s understanding. When the modifier is too far from the entity it is describing or in a position that makes the relationship unclear, it causes confusion. 

When a reader is confused, or a message is unclear, reader engagement suffers. There are specific grammatical terms for these mistakes and strategies for avoiding them.

Misplaced modifier

When a modifier seems to relate to the wrong element in a sentence or is too far from what it describes, it is said to be misplaced. 

  • Incorrect: Covered in maple syrup, the restaurant served pancakes for breakfast.
  • Correct: The restaurant served pancakes for breakfast covered in maple syrup.

With the strange placement of the modifier, it sounds like the restaurant is covered in syrup, instead of the pancakes. To avoid this error, ensure the modifier and modified element have a clear relationship.

Dangling modifier

When a modifier isn’t modifying anything nearby, it’s said to be dangling. It’s not just modifying the wrong thing; it has nothing to modify.

  • Incorrect: Having finished my coffee, my cup was empty.
  • Correct: Having finished my coffee, I was left with an empty cup.

Here, the noun (or pronoun) being modified isn’t in the sentence. The modifier needs something to modify and will need to be rewritten to be corrected. To avoid this error, ensure the modifier is related to something in the sentence.

Squinting modifier

A squinting modifier appears between two words, making it unclear which one it modifies. 

  • Incorrect: Drinking coffee quickly makes me nervous.
  • Correct: When I drink coffee at a quick pace, I get nervous.

The confusion here is whether drinking coffee at a quick pace makes the person nervous or if drinking coffee at all makes the person nervous. The sentence can be clarified by changing the positioning and rewriting to reflect the intended meaning.

Modifiers Bring Sentences Alive

To make a complete sentence, a writer needs only a subject and a verb expressing a complete thought. But adding modifiers (in the right place) creates sentences that are specific, informative, clear, and engaging 

When in doubt about placement, the Originality.ai Grammar Checker can identify and correct modifier errors to make your writing shine. 

Learn more about grammar in our top resources:

Melissa Fanella

Melissa Fanella is a writer, editor, and marketing professional with over 15 years of experience in content and messaging for businesses and nonprofits. Her expertise is in crafting authentic, people-first content that is compelling and engaging for audiences and positioned for business goals.

Frequently Asked Questions

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No, that’s one of the benefits, only fill out the areas which you think will be relevant to the prompts you require.

Why is the English so poor for some prompts?

When making the tool we had to make each prompt as general as possible to be able to include every kind of input. Not to worry though ChatGPT is smart and will still understand the prompt.

In The Press

Originality.ai has been featured for its accurate ability to detect GPT-3, Chat GPT and GPT-4 generated content. See some of the coverage below…

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Originality.ai did a fantastic job on all three prompts, precisely detecting them as AI-written. Additionally, after I checked with actual human-written textual content, it did determine it as 100% human-generated, which is important.

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I use this tool most frequently to check for AI content personally. My most frequent use-case is checking content submitted by freelance writers we work with for AI and plagiarism.

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After extensive research and testing, we determined Originality.ai to be the most accurate technology.

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Jon Gillham, Founder of Originality.ai came up with a tool to detect whether the content is written by humans or AI tools. It’s built on such technology that can specifically detect content by ChatGPT-3 — by giving you a spam score of 0-100, with an accuracy of 94%.

Felix Rose-Collins

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ChatGPT lacks empathy and originality. It’s also recognized as AI-generated content most of the time by plagiarism and AI detectors like Originality.ai

Ashley Stahl

forbes.com

Originality.ai Do give them a shot! 

Sri Krishna

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For web publishers, Originality.ai will enable you to scan your content seamlessly, see who has checked it previously, and detect if an AI-powered tool was implored.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why is it important to check for plagiarism?

Tools for conducting a plagiarism check between two documents online are important as it helps to ensure the originality and authenticity of written work. Plagiarism undermines the value of professional and educational institutions, as well as the integrity of the authors who write articles. By checking for plagiarism, you can ensure the work that you produce is original or properly attributed to the original author. This helps prevent the distribution of copied and misrepresented information.

What is Text Comparison?

Text comparison is the process of taking two or more pieces of text and comparing them to see if there are any similarities, differences and/or plagiarism. The objective of a text comparison is to see if one of the texts has been copied or paraphrased from another text. This text compare tool for plagiarism check between two documents has been built to help you streamline that process by finding the discrepancies with ease.

How do Text Comparison Tools Work?

Text comparison tools work by analyzing and comparing the contents of two or more text documents to find similarities and differences between them. This is typically done by breaking the texts down into smaller units such as sentences or phrases, and then calculating a similarity score based on the number of identical or nearly identical units. The comparison may be based on the exact wording of the text, or it may take into account synonyms and other variations in language. The results of the comparison are usually presented in the form of a report or visual representation, highlighting the similarities and differences between the texts.

String comparison is a fundamental operation in text comparison tools that involves comparing two sequences of characters to determine if they are identical or not. This comparison can be done at the character level or at a higher level, such as the word or sentence level.

The most basic form of string comparison is the equality test, where the two strings are compared character by character and a Boolean result indicating whether they are equal or not is returned. More sophisticated string comparison algorithms use heuristics and statistical models to determine the similarity between two strings, even if they are not exactly the same. These algorithms often use techniques such as edit distance, which measures the minimum number of operations (such as insertions, deletions, and substitutions) required to transform one string into another.

Another common technique for string comparison is n-gram analysis, where the strings are divided into overlapping sequences of characters (n-grams) and the frequency of each n-gram is compared between the two strings. This allows for a more nuanced comparison that takes into account partial similarities, rather than just exact matches.

String comparison is a crucial component of text comparison tools, as it forms the basis for determining the similarities and differences between texts. The results of the string comparison can then be used to generate a report or visual representation of the similarities and differences between the texts.

What is Syntax Highlighting?

Syntax highlighting is a feature of text editors and integrated development environments (IDEs) that helps to visually distinguish different elements of a code or markup language. It does this by coloring different elements of the code, such as keywords, variables, functions, and operators, based on a predefined set of rules.

The purpose of syntax highlighting is to make the code easier to read and understand, by drawing attention to the different elements and their structure. For example, keywords may be colored in a different hue to emphasize their importance, while comments or strings may be colored differently to distinguish them from the code itself. This helps to make the code more readable, reducing the cognitive load of the reader and making it easier to identify potential syntax errors.

How Can I Conduct a Plagiarism Check between Two Documents Online?

With our tool it’s easy, just enter or upload some text, click on the button “Compare text” and the tool will automatically display the diff between the two texts.

What Are the Benefits of Using a Text Compare Tool?

Using text comparison tools is much easier, more efficient, and more reliable than proofreading a piece of text by hand. Eliminate the risk of human error by using a tool to detect and display the text difference within seconds.

What Files Can You Inspect with This Text Compare Tool?

We have support for the file extensions .pdf, .docx, .odt, .doc and .txt. You can also enter your text or copy and paste text to compare.

Will My Data Be Shared?

There is never any data saved by the tool, when you hit “Upload” we are just scanning the text and pasting it into our text area so with our text compare tool, no data ever enters our servers.

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