English 7 - Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

The difference between clarity and awkwardness.

First things first… What is a modifier, anyway?

• Modifiers are words, phrases, or clauses that provide description in sentences. Modifiers allow writers to take the picture that they have in their heads and transfer it accurately to the heads of their readers.

Consider this very “un-modified” sentence:• Stephen dropped his fork.

Stephen dropped his fork… Poor Stephen, who just wanted a

quick snack before his after school detention, quickly dropped his fork on the cafeteria tray, gagging with disgust as a large cockroach wiggled out of his grilled cheese sandwich, a sight requiring a year of therapy before Stephen could eat bread again. + =

What are the modifiers? Adjective = poor. Adjective clause = who just wanted a quick

meal. Adverb = quickly. Adverb clause = as a large cockroach wiggled

out of his grilled cheese sandwich. Absolute phrase = a sight requiring a year of

therapy before Stephen could eat bread again. Infinitive phrase = to get through his after

school detention. Participle phrase = gagging with disgust. Prepositional phrase = on the cafeteria tray.

Misplaced Modifiers In general, you should place single-word

modifiers near the word or words they modify, especially when a reader might think that they modify something different in the sentence. If these modifiers are placed incorrectly, they are called misplaced modifiers. Consider the following sentence:• [WRONG] After our conversation lessons, we could

understand the Spanish spoken by our visitors from Madrid easily. (Do we understand the Spanish easily, or do the visitors speak it easily?) This revision eliminates the confusion:

• [RIGHT] We could easily understand the Spanish spoken by our visitors from Madrid.

Misplaced Modifiers cont. It is particularly important to be careful about where

you put limiting modifiers. These are words like "almost," "hardly," "nearly," "just," "only," "merely," and so on. Many writers regularly misplace these modifiers. You can accidentally change the entire meaning of a sentence if you place these modifiers next to the wrong word:• [WRONG] Randy has nearly annoyed every professor he has

had by sending them email spam. (he hasn't "nearly annoyed" them)

• [WRONG] She almost gave $5,000 to charity. (But then she thought better of it and bought a big screen TV.)

• [RIGHT] Randy has annoyed nearly every professor he has had by sending them email spam.

• [RIGHT] She gave almost $5,000 to the charity. (Wow, how nice of her!)

And some more… Like individual words, It is important that you place

the modifying phrase or clause as close as possible to the word or words it modifies:• [WRONG] By accident, he poked the little girl with his finger

in the eye. (Wha?)• [WRONG] I heard that my roommate intended to throw a

surprise party for me while I was outside her bedroom window. (Whoo hoo! Party without the birthday girl!)

• [WRONG] After the wedding, Ian told us at his bachelor party that he would start behaving like a responsible adult.

• [RIGHT] By accident, he poked the little girl in the eye with his finger.

• [RIGHT] While I was outside her bedroom window, I heard that my roommate intended to throw a surprise party for me.

• [RIGHT] Ian told us at his bachelor party that he would start behaving like a responsible adult after the wedding.

Last one I promise A squinting modifier is an ambiguously

placed modifier that can modify either the word before it or the word after it. In other words, it is "squinting" in both directions at the same time:• [WRONG] Defining your terms clearly

strengthens your argument. (does defining "clearly strengthen" or does "defining clearly" strengthen?)

• [RIGHT] Defining your terms will clearly strengthen your argument. OR A clear definition of your terms strengthens your argument.

Dangling Modifiers The dangling modifier, a persistent and

frequent grammatical problem in writing, is often (though not always) located at the beginning of a sentence. Sometimes we write descriptive phrases that point to or modify words that are not clearly stated in our sentences, making our sentences illogical. We call these phrases dangling modifiers. • [Wrong] Walking to college on a subzero morning,

my left ear became frozen. (A walking ear?)• [Right] I was walking to college on a subzero

morning when my left ear froze.

How did these get published? For sale: an antique desk suitable for lady

with thick legs and large drawers.

Wanted: Man to take care of cow that does not smoke or drink.

Have several very old dresses from grandmother in beautiful condition.

For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

The hunter crouched behind a tree waiting for a bear to come along with a bow and arrow.

Some practice! Piled up next to the washer, I began doing

the laundry. I began doing the laundry piled up next to the

washer.

While John was talking on the phone, the doorbell rang.

While talking on the phone, the doorbell rang.

Standing on the balcony, the ocean view was magnificent.

Standing on the balcony, we had a magnificent ocean view.

Keep going! As I was running across the floor, the

rug slipped and I lost my balance. Running across the floor, the rug

slipped and I lost my balance

While taking out the trash, the sack broke.

While Jamie was taking out the trash, the sack broke.

Nice job!

But What About Dangling Modifiers?

I almost listened to the whole album. I listened to almost the whole album.

He was staring at the girl wearing dark glasses by the vending machine.

He was staring at the girl by the vending machine wearing dark glasses.

We read that Janet was married in her last letter. In her last letter, we read that Janet was

married.

A bit more! The faulty alarm nearly sounded five

times yesterday. The faulty alarm system sounded

nearly five times yesterday.

On the evening news, I heard that there was a revolution.

I heard that there was a revolution on the evening news.

I think you’ve got it.