Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[sejpdw]

" Surgeons at clinics specializing in plastic surgery are reporting increasingly younger patients, according to a report released recently."

Is "increasingly" in this sentence modifying 'reporting' or 'younger'?

[LucentShade]

It's modifying "younger" -- "increasingly" generally modifies the word that comes after it, so the sentence means that surgeons are reporting that their patients are getting younger and younger (compared to the past, younger people are coming in).