Shrieking from in the tenth row, the girls were no doubt her biggest fans.
Which best identifies the word modified by the boldfaced participle phrase?
A. doubt
B. Her
C. Girls
D. fans
I think it's B, but not sure.
The boldfaced words are "Shrieking from in the tenth row". Sorry, I haven't mentioned that earlier.
No. The modified word is a noun, not a pronoun.
Who is shrieking?
Hint, modifiers are usually as close as possible to the words they modify.
Oh! I see, the girls. Now I am starting to understand. :)
But, I'm still debating between c and d. Aren't the girls the fans?
Yes, the phrase modifies girls; it's the closest noun. The girls are the fans. Grammatically, fans is the predicate nominative.
To identify the word modified by the boldfaced participle phrase, you need to understand the function of a participle phrase. A participle phrase is a phrase that starts with a present or past participle and functions as an adjective to modify a noun or pronoun.
In the given sentence, the boldfaced participle phrase is "Shrieking from in the tenth row." This phrase modifies the noun "girls" because it describes the action or state of the noun. The girls were the ones shrieking from the tenth row, so "girls" is the word modified by the participle phrase.
Therefore, the correct answer is C. Girls.