Gerund

Question

Sir,

Removing his coat, Jack rushed to the river.

In this sentence "removing his coat" works as adjective and modify the noun "Jack".

1. Actually, I could not how does "removing his coat" function as adjective and modifying the "jack".

2. When I say an adjective modify a noun. What does it mean.

waht is real sense of "modify", in this case.

3. Some time it is written like an adjective modify a noun, some time describe a noun ,some time qualify a noun.

All these "qualify","describe","modify" about adjective for noun confuse me .

Please clear me.

I would be grateful to you all.

Thanks.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

"modify", "describe", "qualify" all mean the same thing for all practical purposes in the world of grammar. They all mean that the adjective "goes with" that noun as a unit, and not with another noun in the sentence.

For example, look at this sentence:

"The little red wagon stood beside the big white house."

"wagon" is a noun. "house" is a noun.

What color is the wagon? The wagon is red. So "red" goes with "wagon"; it modifies "wagon"; it describes "wagon", it qualifies "wagon".

"red" does not go with "house". There is no unit formed by "red house" anywhere in the sentence. In this sentence "red" does not modify, describe, or qualify "house"; it does not go with "house".

In the same way, "little" modifies (goes with) the noun "wagon".
In the same way, "big" and "white" describes (qualifies, goes with) "house".

I hope that helps.

Gerund

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