Welcome to this topic entitled Misplaced modifiers! As students of English composition, you must have complete awareness and mastery over this tricky and oftentimes misplaced modifiers. Misplaced modifiers are words, phrases, or clauses that add description to sentences but are typically not properly situated within the sentence. Hence, when we use them in our sentences, it is our duty to properly place them in the right position so as to avoid creating misplaced modifiers in our sentences. If left unchecked, misplaced modifiers can drastically alter the meaning of your sentences as illustrated by these lines:
“Having laid an egg weighing two pounds, the farmer displayed his favorite ostrich to the photographers.”
“Standing on one leg, the boy played with his dog.”
Intended learning outcome (ILO)
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
- Revise sentences with dangling and misplaced modifiers.
What are modifiers?
Modifiers are words, phrases, or clauses that add description to sentences. Typically, you will find a modifier snuggled right next to—either in front of or behind—the word it logically describes. Take the simple, one-word adjective blue. If we add it to the sentence that follows, where should it go?
At a downtown dealership, Kara bought a truck from a salesman with a comb over.
Should we locate blue next to dealership? A blue downtown dealership? A blue Kara? A blue salesman? Of course not! Logic dictates that blue can describe only one word, truck, so we must place the modifier next to that word:
At a downtown dealership, Kara bought a blue truck from a salesman with a comb over.
In a similar manner, multi-word phrases and clauses acting as modifiers often go right next to the word they describe. Here are some examples:
Gazing out the window, Paul missed the homework assignment that Prof. Andres wrote on the board.
Therefore, a modifier is a word or phrase that adds detail or description to a sentence. In the example sentences below, the modifiers are underlined.
- I walked in and out of dozens of stores yesterday, searching for the perfect purse.
- Shopping with Lisa today, I found a great purse.
While modifiers add detail and interest to sentences, they must be used carefully so that the reader understands the details being added. Writers generally make two major modifier mistakes: dangling modifiers and misplaced modifiers.
What is a Dangling modifier?
A dangling modifier has no concrete or logical referent in the sentence to which it can attach itself and therefore is said to dangle (it has nothing to modify). The majority of dangling modifiers are verb phrases that are not attached to the intended subject, if any.
A dangling modifier occurs when the subject of the modifier is unclear. Most dangling modifiers occur at the beginning of sentences, but they can also occur at the end. Consider the sentence below and its revision (the modifiers are underlined).
- INCORRECT: Having looked through the whole music store, the CD I wanted just wasn’t there.
From the way this sentence is written, it actually looks like the CD has been looking through the whole music store. Even though readers can probably guess that it is the writer who has looked through the whole music store, the dangling modifier makes the sentence unclear. We can correct the dangling modifier and make the sentence clearer by adding a subject for the modifier:
- POSSIBLE REVISION: Having looked through the whole music store, I realized that the CD I wanted just wasn’t there.
Here are various types of dangling modifiers:
DANGLING PRESENT PARTICIPLE
- Walking down the street, the sky was a brilliant blue.
Grammatically, this sentence implies that the sky was walking down the street, and this is clearly not the writer’s intention.
- Rewrite: Walking down the street, I noticed the sky was a brilliant blue.
- Rewrite: While I was walking down the street, the sky was a brilliant blue.
DANGLING PAST PARTICIPLE
- Shocked by the gravity of the situation, something had to be done.
Here, one could interpret that something is shocked by the gravity of the situation.
- Rewrite: Shocked by the gravity of the situation, they knew they had to do something.
DANGLING INFINITIVE
- To complete the survey properly, the form must be signed and sealed in the provided envelope.
The form is obviously not the one completing the survey.
- Rewrite: To complete the survey properly, participants must sign and seal the form in the provided envelope.
DANGLING GERUND PHRASE
- After having danced all night, it was late and no restaurants were open.
TRICK: When the independent clause begins with there is, there are or an ambiguous it, dangling is inevitable. Rewrite the sentence to avoid these constructions.
- After having danced all night, they realized it was late and no restaurants were open.
DANGLING ELLIPTICAL CLAUSES
- When golden brown, remove the cookies from the oven and set them on the counter to cool.
While we understand the subject of when golden brown to be the cookies, grammatically the imperative and unmentioned you is the subject.
- Rewrite: When the cookies are golden brown, remove them from the oven and set them on the counter to cool.
DANGLING PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES
- Like a kid in a candy store, his eyes were bulging at the sight of all they had to offer.
His eyes were clearly not like a kid in a candy store, though that is how the sentence is grammatically understood.
- Rewrite: Like a kid in a candy store, he was so thrilled that his eyes were bulging at the sight of all they had to offer.
DANGLING APPOSITIVES
- An expert in the field, the professor’s work was the focus of the conference.
The professor and not his work is an expert in the field.
- Rewrite: An expert in the field, the professor was the keynotes speaker and his work the focus of the conference.
What is a Misplaced modifier?
Dangling modifiers fall under the larger category of misplaced modifiers. They are like dangling modifiers in that they attach themselves to an illogical subject (technically speaking) but are different in that they are not always found in opening clauses; misplaced modifiers can be found anywhere in a sentence.
Most style guides and experts agree that misplaced modifiers are grammatically incorrect and should be rectified, especially in formal writing. Nevertheless, they are viewed as less of a grammatical “cardinal sin” and tend to slip by unnoticed even for the experienced language professional.
Misplaced modifiers occur when the subject of the modifier is unclear because the modifier is poorly placed. The reader may be unsure of what word the modifier is describing. The reader may even think the misplaced modifier is describing a different word than intended. Consider the sentence below and its revision (the modifier is underlined).
- INCORRECT: The jacket was just too small in the store.
The placement of the modifier in the store implies that the jacket was too small in the store. If the writer wants to convey that the jacket suddenly changed sizes when worn in other locations, then the modifier’s placement in the sentence is correct. If the modifier is intended to specify that the author is talking about the jacket in the store, then this modifier should be moved.
- Possible revision: The jacket in the store was just too small.
MISPLACED ONLY
- I have only eaten one sandwich this week.
This sentence suggests that all I have eaten this week is one sandwich. The sentence below suggests that I have eaten no more than one sandwich this week.
- Rewrite: I have eaten only one sandwich this week.
MISPLACED RESTRICTIVE CLAUSE
- She put the sparkly red stilettos on her feet that she bought in Oz.
This first sentence suggests that she bought her feet in Oz.
- Rewrite: She put the sparkly red stilettos, which she bought in Oz, on her feet.
This also extends and applies to all the “danglers.” For example,
MISPLACED PRESENT PARTICIPLE
- The teacher was strict on students using detention as a means of discipline.
This sentence implies that it was in fact the students who were using detention as a means of discipline.
- Rewrite: The teacher, using detention as a means of discipline, was strict on students.
MISPLACED PAST PARTICIPLE
- They did their homework aided by their parents.
This sentence implies that the homework was aided by their parents, instead of the children being aided by their parents for their homework.
- Rewrite: Aided by their parents, they did their homework.
MISPLACED GERUND PHRASE
- Barbie and Kelly went to see the doctor having had the day off work.
The structure of the sentence indicates that the doctor had the day off work.
- Rewrite: Barbie and Kelly, having had the day off work, went to see the doctor.
MISPLACED ELLIPTICAL CLAUSE
- Remove, when golden brown, the cookies from the oven and set them on the counter to cool.
This implies that the understood imperative subject, you, should remove the cookies from the oven when he or she is golden brown.
- Rewrite: Remove the cookies, when golden brown, from the oven and set them on the counter to cool.
MISPLACED PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES
- The child raced up the magical maroon tree with his eyes full of adventure.
The word order suggests that the tree has eyes that are full of adventure.
- Rewrite: The child, with his eyes full of adventure, raced up the magical maroon tree.
MISPLACED APPOSITIVES
- The car’s engine, a high-class automobile, has a great deal of horse power.
This implies that the engine is a high-class automobile.
- Rewrite: The car, a high-class automobile, has a great deal of horse power.
Exercises
Rewrite the following sentences to avoid dangling/misplaced modifiers if necessary.
- Fresh out of college, the job market did not hold many opportunities for this year’s graduates.
- Having said that, there was no way we were going back.
- As a surgeon, the hospital was a home away from home.
- With hundreds of years of experience, you can trust our company for all of your household needs.
- Unlike many other languages, nouns are not associated with a gender in English.
- To lose weight, avoid sugary and calorie-heavy foods.
- Once the clothes had dried, Mark ironed and folded them before putting them away.
- After doing all the research, a history paper is easy to write.
- She had lost the competition, an upsetting end to an otherwise perfect season.
- Each page of his article was read and reread to ensure that there were no errors.
References
- Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers. Accessed on July 15, 2017 at http://linguistech.ca/Tips+and+Tricks+-+Dangling+and+Misplaced+Modifiers
- Jaclyn M. Wells and Allen Brizee. 2013. Modifiers. The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. Accessed at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/engagement/2/1/36/
- Einsohn, Amy. The Copyeditor’s Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications. 2nd ed. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2006.
- Flick, Jane and Celia Millward. Handbook for Writers. 3rd Canadian ed. Toronto: Harcourt Brace & Company, Ltd., 1999.Messenger, William E. et al.
- The Canadian Writer’s Handbook. 5th ed. Toronto: Oxford University Press Canada, 2008.
- The Chicago Manual of Style. 15th ed. rev. and expanded. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010.