Qualifiers

English can be both very exact and very general. The difference between the two is qualifiers. We can put in as many as we want in a sentence to be as exact as we want.

In simple terms, qualifiers are adjectives or adverbs. They add a quality to the root word that they attach to. So qualifying sentences can simply be giving more information, as opposed to being less vague. The ball can become The red ball, which then becomes The red ball my aunt gave to me. We are adding to a simple phrase or sentence in order to give the reader as much true information as possible.

Since we want to know as much as we can, the more qualifiers we have, the better, right? Well, no. Too many qualifiers give us an information overload. We can be given so much information that we forget what that information is describing. This also brings the story to a screeching halt. All action has to stop while we get a bunch of information on one thing.

If you are confused and you don't know what to put in and what to leave out, remember one simple thing: just because it's true doesn't mean it's right. Sometimes a piece of information does not add to the story, or at least the scene. If it isn't necessary, then take it out. However, in the case where an object has a lot of necessary information, you still don't wan to dump it all on us with qualifiers. If there is that much that needs to be said, break it up into multiple sentences, so that we know it is all related, but don't get information overload.