英语语法：89 Stacked Modifiers

Today’s episode concerns a what-you-may-have-been-wondering-about topic. That sure was a mouthful, and it illustrates¹ the problem of stacked modifiers, which occurs when you string together too many words to describe a noun at the end of the mouthful.
Bill Walsh, author of Lapsing² into a Comma, calls this problem “adjective pileup” (1), and Microsoft Word’s grammar checker will sometimes put a squiggle under a bunch of words and complain, “Too Many Nouns.” Let’s look at these related problems and then resolve not to create such a traffic jam in our sentences.
 
Single-Word Modifiers
Modifiers describe, or modify, other words. Adjectives modify nouns or pronouns, for example, and adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. You don’t run into any problems in single adjective-noun combinations such as “illustrated book.” And you can even use one noun to modify another (2). It sounds weird³, but we do it all the time. In the phrase “job description,” for example, the noun “job” modifies “description.”
Double- or Triple-Word Modifiers
It’s also perfectly⁴ to acceptable describe a noun with two or three modifiers. In such cases, you are encouraged to use hyphens to link together words that describe a noun—if the modifiers appear before the noun. For example, if you want to describe someone’s age, as in “the forty-year-old man,” you need hyphens.
When you join words to describe a noun, you’re creating what’s called a phrasal adjective (3). You can hardly go through the day without using such phrasal-adjective combinations as “credit-card statement,” “over-the-counter medicine,” and “long-distance phone call.”
Hyphens clearly mark all the modifiers as going together to describe the one noun, and they prevent a misreading. Take this ambiguous sentence, which currently contains no hyphen: “The man eating lion was taken away.” Who got taken away, the man or the lion? Hmm. We don’t know. However, if we are talking about the lion, we need a hyphen between the words “man” and “eating”: “The man-eating lion was taken away.” The hyphen makes the sentence much clearer. Without the hyphen, the sentence could be interpreted to mean that a man having lion meat for dinner was taken away, at least in places where men eat lions.
If, on the other hand, the modifiers appear after the noun, you get to ditch the hyphens: “The man is forty years old.” No hyphens there. You can also get rid of the hyphens if one of the two words describing the noun is an “-ly” adverb. So if your sentence is “The spiritually inclined woman went to church,” you don’t hyphenate "spiritually inclined."
Modify in Moderation
The modifiers we’ve mentioned so far, such as “illustrated” and “man-eating,” won’t confuse readers, but you will befuddle⁵ them if you fall prey⁶ to the problem of stacked modifiers. How many modifiers are too many? Well, if you find yourself adding six hyphens to create a monster modifier before a noun, that might be a clue.
Think back to that confusing modifier you heard at the beginning of this podcast: “a what-you-might-have-been-wondering-about topic.” No amount of hyphens can clear up a traffic jam like that. Although that was a bit of exaggeration, stacking your modifiers is a real problem, and perhaps you suffer from it.
Some writers try to save space by joining up too many words before a noun. Cutting words is a good idea most of the time, but not if you sacrifice clarity in the process (4). Stacked modifiers often complicate⁷ your sentences needlessly. About.com warns that stacked modifiers tend to crop up in technical writing and newspaper articles, and the Mayfield Handbook of Technical & Scientific Handwriting (5) presents us with various unreadable sentences that suffer from modifier mayhem.
Take this Mayfield Handbook example, which contains no hyphens: “The system uses a high peak power single frequency low divergent light beam produced by pulsed lasers” (6). Did you catch all that? Me neither. This sentence uses eight words to modify “beam.” Yikes!
Do not imitate that writer, no matter how much space you think you’re saving. Instead, follow Mayfield’s advice: “Add a few words (especially prepositions and conjunctions) to make the relationships between nouns clear to the reader.” Mayfield rewrites the pulsed-lasers sentence like this: “The system uses pulsed lasers that operate under high peak power to produce a single-frequency light beam with low divergence⁸.” That sentence is still over my head, but at least technically⁹ inclined readers now have a chance at understanding it.
Modifier-Madness Solutions
As a general rule, you may want to consider three modifiers before a noun or verb as the maximum limit. “The three-foot-high fence” is no big deal, but “the three-foot-high barbed-wire-covered fence” is a bit much.
If you’re faced with having to cram¹⁰ many facts into a small space, consider breaking the sentence into two shorter sentences. You might also decide to get rid of one or more of your modifiers; perhaps you don’t have to list every possible adjective associated with the noun. And don’t forget the hyphens, which will make your sentences more readable.
 

1 illustrates   

给…加插图( illustrate的第三人称单数 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明

参考例句：

• This historical novel illustrates the breaking up of feudal society in microcosm. 这部历史小说是走向崩溃的封建社会的缩影。
• Alfred Adler, a famous doctor, had an experience which illustrates this. 阿尔弗莱德 - 阿德勒是一位著名的医生，他有过可以说明这点的经历。 来自中级百科部分

2 lapsing   

v.退步( lapse的现在分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失

参考例句：

• He tried to say, but his voice kept lapsing. 他是想说这句话，可已经抖得语不成声了。 来自辞典例句
• I saw the pavement lapsing beneath my feet. 我看到道路在我脚下滑过。 来自辞典例句

3 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

4 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

5 befuddle   

v.使混乱

参考例句：

• This is clearly designed to befuddle the public.这显然是为了蒙蔽舆论。
• Don't befuddle me with all those masses of detail.不要拿一大堆琐事把我搞迷糊。

6 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

7 complicate   

vt.使复杂化，使混乱，使难懂

参考例句：

• There is no need to complicate matters.没有必要使问题复杂化。
• These events will greatly complicate the situation.这些事件将使局势变得极其复杂。

8 divergence   

n.分歧，岔开

参考例句：

• There is no sure cure for this transatlantic divergence.没有什么灵丹妙药可以消除大西洋两岸的分歧。
• In short,it was an age full of conflicts and divergence of values.总之，这一时期是矛盾与价值观分歧的时期。

9 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

10 cram   

v.填塞，塞满，临时抱佛脚，为考试而学习

参考例句：

• There was such a cram in the church.教堂里拥挤得要命。
• The room's full,we can't cram any more people in.屋里满满的，再也挤不进去人了。