Question: This British article titled "[Two stabbings near Crumpsall Park overnight in separate incidents just 200 metres apart](https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/two-stabbings-near-crumpsall-park-16367917)" says:

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> He was taken to hospital with serious injuries. Police described his condition **today** as serious but stable.
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In the second sentence, what does 'today' modify, 'described' or 'condition'?

If it modifies the noun 'condition', what's the part of speech of 'today'?

Answer: 
"[Today](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/today?s=t)" is an adverb modifying the main verb "described." 

"Today" being used as an adjective is extremely rare. Examples of it being used as an adjective would be: 

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> "The today look in clothing styles is..."
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and

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> "That look is very today."
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In a sentence like "I started a new job today" or "Today, I started a new job," which is how it's used in your sentence, it's an adverb modifying the main verb (i.e., the verb the subject performs in the main clause).

*Here's a hint:* If you can aptly move the modifier to both the beginning and the end of the sentence and have the sentence still make sense, it's an adverb as adverbs modifying the main verb can go either place, as well as other places, unlike adjectives, which always appear next to the noun they modify or after a linking verb.

In your sentence, you can move "today" to not just the beginning of the sentence and the end of the sentence and still have it mean the same thing, but you can also move it just before "described" and just after "described," the verb its modifying. To modify "condition," "today" would appear before "condition" as it, not fitting into any of the categories, is not a [postpostive adjective](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpositive_adjective).
> 
> In the second sentence, what does 'today' modify, 'described' or 'condition'?
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It modifies *condition*.

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> If it modifies the noun 'condition', what's the part of speech of 'today'?
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An adverb.

[Adverbs modifying nouns is a thing](https://english.stackexchange.com/a/414344/171986). (See [pp. 42 ff. here](http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~gpullum/PaynHuddPull.pdf) for more details.)

Essentially, the *described* [obj.] *as* [adj.] is replacing the *described* [obj.] *to be* [adj.] construction where the referent of the adv. *today* is much clearer. We still want to be able to express the time of that state of being, so we just modify the noun directly with the adverb. People do it naturally and are easily and correctly understood and so continue to do it, even though we all 'know' from school that adverb(ial)s should 'only' modify verbs, adjs., and other advs.