An absurd pretense intended to create a pleasant or respectable appearance
Once upon a time there was a little boy named Charles that lived in Alaska. This boy had lots of friends there and he thought that Alaska was the best place in the world.
One day, Charles and his family had to move, since his parents couldn't find a place to work. They moved to a horrible, but cheap house in North Dakota. Charles wanted to cry. He missed all of his friends, and he didn't like North Dakota.
One day, Charles had an idea to go back to Alaska. He decided that he was going to rob a bank that night so he could recuperate the money to return to Alaska.
That night, Charles was starting his plan. When he got to the gates of the bank, he was prepared to shoot everywhere and kill many people. But after the first shoot to nowhere, three security guards caught him, and when Charles wanted to shoot them too, he realized that he didn't have any bullets left. So, the security guards shot Charles 1,000 times and he died horribly.
Never be too greedy. If you are you may have to pay back for it.
<u>Answer</u>:
The modifier in the sentence, “Tom ate the burger and fries as if he were in a race,” is “as if he were in a race.”
<u>Explanation</u>:
A modifier is a section of a phrase or a clause structure. In English grammar, the responsibility of a modifier is to modify or change another element in the structure of a sentence on which this optional element is dependent.
In this sentence above, “as if he were in a race” is the modifier which changes the other element of the sentence structure. Plus, the first part of the sentence if separated from the modifier forms an independent statement. So, “Tom ate the burger and fries,” is an independent sentence which is grammatically correct and is equal in structure to the original sentence.