Literary notes about modify (AI summary)
The word "modify" has been employed in literature to denote a range of nuanced adjustments—from softening or tempering qualities, as seen in older literary works like [1], to adjusting strategies or plans in military and political contexts ([2], [3], [4], [5]). In discussions of language and grammar, authors such as those in [6], [7], [8], and [9] use "modify" to describe how adjectives, adverbs, and even infinitives change or qualify verbs, nouns, or other parts of speech. Meanwhile, in philosophical, sociological, and scientific treatises, the term appears to signal the alteration of laws, influences, or even perceptions—ranging from the modification of inherited prejudices ([10]) and legal frameworks ([11], [12], [13]) to a broader conceptual influence on society and nature ([14], [15], [16], [17]). Thus, across many genres, "modify" carries the core idea of change—whether it be in form, meaning, or practical function—while its specific connotation shifts according to context.
- TEMPER, modify, soften. TENDER, show regard, care for, cherish; manifest.
— from Every Man in His Humor by Ben Jonson - Yet they obstinately refuse to modify the position they have taken up.
— from The Art of War by active 6th century B.C. Sunzi - He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven- born captain. 34.
— from The Art of War by active 6th century B.C. Sunzi - He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain.
— from The Art of War by active 6th century B.C. Sunzi - According as circumstances are favorable, one should modify one's plans.
— from The Art of War by active 6th century B.C. Sunzi - They usually modify verbs.
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge - Adjectives modify substantives; adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge - What does each modify?
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge - Their function is to modify other parts of speech, that is, to change their meaning in some way.
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge - A liberal or college education tends to modify and qualify all our inherited political, religious, and social prejudices.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - General laws should always be distinguished from individual causes that may modify their effects.
— from The Social Contract & Discourses by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - The Reparation Commission has no discretion to modify this.
— from The Economic Consequences of the Peace by John Maynard Keynes - The three Powers reserve to themselves the liberty to modify this arrangement at any time if they agree that it is necessary.
— from The Economic Consequences of the Peace by John Maynard Keynes - Now the growth of tradition will in a sense gravely modify the individual members of the society which maintains it.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - The other point is persons modify one another's dispositions only through the special use they make of physical conditions.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey - Natural selection will modify the structure of the young in relation to the parent and of the parent in relation to the young.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - Spontaneous variations—of course mechanically caused [C] —may occur and may modify the hereditary form of animals.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana
