grammatical role of words in expression 'genetically modified'?
in expression 'genetically modified' the word genetically is an adverb? if true why is used before the word 'modified'? and what about modified? is it a verb or adjective?
Genetically modified is an adjectival phrase, two or more words describing something, in this case usually crops. It consists of a verb (modify) and adverb (genetically). One could refer to "a crop that has been modified genetically" but the phrase "genetically modified crop", usually abbreviated to "GM crop", is less cumbersome, more succinct, and so was adopted from the outset by science, industry and the media.
|link comment||answered Jun 29 '13 at 09:28 Michael Cranfield Expert|
The word 'modified' in this example is not a verb; it is a past participle adjective. A noun will follow it, such as 'crop'. Thus you have: 'a modified crop'. You could also have a 'huge crop' or a 'new crop' - this shows that 'modified' functions as an adjective since it modifies the meaning of 'crop'. The word 'genetically' is an adverb; adverbs are needed to modify adjectives. Remember that both present and past participles can be used as adjectives.
|link comment||answered Jul 01 '13 at 02:40 Ahmad Barnard Expert|
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