Purpose
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to identify and correct dangling modifiers and misplaced modifiers.Lesson Explanation
This lesson resolves the participial phrase issue flagged back in Part 2, Lesson 5: a modifying phrase must clearly and logically connect to the noun it’s meant to describe, or genuine confusion or unintended humor results. A dangling modifier occurs when the noun the phrase is meant to describe is missing from the sentence entirely, so the phrase attaches, illogically, to whatever noun happens to be nearest: “Running down the street, the bus was missed.” (This sentence illogically implies the bus was running down the street — the actual runner, presumably a person, was never stated.) Correction: “Running down the street, she missed the bus.” (Now “she” is present and logically connects to “running.”) A misplaced modifier occurs when the describing word or phrase IS present in the sentence, but positioned too far from what it’s meant to describe, creating ambiguity or an unintended meaning: “She almost ate the whole cake.” (implies she almost engaged in eating it, but didn’t) versus “She ate almost the whole cake.” (she did eat it, just not quite all of it) — moving “almost” changes which word it modifies, similar in spirit to the “only” example from the previous lesson. A genuinely reliable test for both errors: identify what the modifying phrase logically describes, then check whether that exact noun appears, and appears close enough, in the sentence. If the intended noun is missing, it’s dangling; if it’s present but too far away or ambiguous, it’s misplaced.Practice Questions
1. What is a dangling modifier?
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A modifying phrase whose intended noun is missing from the sentence entirely.2. In “Running down the street, the bus was missed,” what does the sentence illogically imply?
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That the bus was running down the street.3. How would you correct that dangling modifier?
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By adding the actual subject, e.g. “Running down the street, she missed the bus.”4. What is a misplaced modifier?
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A modifying word or phrase that is present but positioned too far from what it describes.5. What does “She almost ate the whole cake” imply?
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That she almost engaged in eating it, but did not.6. What does “She ate almost the whole cake” imply, in contrast?
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That she did eat it, just not quite all of it.7. What earlier-covered example from Part 4, Lesson 2 works similarly to this “almost” example?
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The placement of “only.”8. What earlier lesson first flagged the participial-phrase issue behind dangling modifiers?
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Part 2, Lesson 5.9. What is the reliable test for identifying a dangling or misplaced modifier?
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Check whether the noun the phrase logically describes is present, and close enough, in the sentence.10. If the intended noun is missing entirely, is the error dangling or misplaced?
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Dangling.11. If the intended noun is present but too far away, is the error dangling or misplaced?
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Misplaced.12. Can a dangling or misplaced modifier create unintended humor or confusion?