Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
A modifier is a word or phrase that adds detail or description to a
sentence.
In a clear, logical sentence, you will find most modifiers right next to the words
they describe:
The waitress served Gilbert a plate of gray meatloaf sauced with lumpy gravy.
Notice that “sauced with lumpy gravy” follows “meatloaf,” its target noun.
If too much distance separates a modifier and its target, the modifier is
misplaced:
Sauced with lumpy gravy, the waitress served Gilbert a plate of gray meatloaf.
The waitress is sauced with lumpy gravy? That's not logical!
Misplaced modifiers can usually be corrected by moving the modifier to a
more sensible place in the sentence, generally next to the word it
modifies.
INCORRECT: The jacket was just too small in the store.
***In the store describes where the jacket is located.
***It sounds like the jacket is too small to be in the store.
Possible revision: The jacket in the store was just too small.
More Examples
Example #1
Incorrect
The example above suggests that a gold man owns a watch.
Corrected version
Now it is the watch that is gold.
Example #2
Incorrect
Corrected version
Example #3
Incorrect
Corrected version
Example #4
Incorrect
This sentence, for example, suggests that we brought a lunch slowly:
Corrected version
To repair the meaning, move the adverb slowly so that it is near ate.
Example #5
Incorrect
Corrected version
Example #6
Incorrect
Corrected version
Example #7
Incorrect
Corrected version
Example #8
Incorrect
Corrected version
Example #9
Incorrect
Corrected version
Be careful! In correcting a misplaced modifier, don't create a sentence with
two possible meanings.
Example
Problem: Did the teacher say this on Monday or will she return the essays
on Monday?)
Correction #1 (meaning the essays will be returned on Monday)
Correction #2 (meaning that the teacher spoke on Monday)
If the sentence fails to include a target, the modifier is dangling:
Studying the unappetizing plate of food, all appetite was lost.
Who lost their appetite? There is no target here.
Revised Sentences (Can you see how a target is added into these sentences?):
INCORRECT: After reading the original study, the article remains
unconvincing.
REVISED: After reading the original study, I find the article unconvincing.
INCORRECT: Relieved of your responsibilities at your job, your home should be
a place to relax.
REVISED: Relieved of your responsibilities at your job, you should be able to
relax at home.
INCORRECT: The experiment was a failure, not having studied the lab manual
carefully.
REVISED: They failed the experiment, not having studied the lab manual
carefully.
INCORRECT: Having looked through the whole music store, the CD I wanted
just wasn’t there.
POSSIBLE REVISION: Having looked through the whole music store, I realized
that the CD I wanted just wasn’t there.
Example #1
Incorrect
Corrected version
Example #2
Corrected version
Example #3
Corrected version
Example #4
Corrected version
Practice
1. Running for the bus, the rain started coming down in buckets and I got
all wet.
2. The couch was kind of ugly in the furniture store.
3. Having searched and searched for Mr. Right, it started to seem like he
didn’t exist.
4. Driving up the long, tree lined driveway, the mansion loomed above us.
5. Having done the dishes and vacuumed the floors, my house looked
decent again.
6. Playing football for the first time, the game was too strenuous for
Maxwell.
7. Standing on the runway, a plane will hit you.
8. Reading Newsweek, an article on the dangers of ice fishing caught my
eye.
9. When just two years old, my mother showed me how to dance the polka.
10.
While visiting the reptile house, the crocodile frightened my
friends.
11.
After showing my ID, the gate opened.
12.
A wind blew across the field that was cold and blustery.
13.
Joan had made up her mind to be an architect before she was
thirteen years old.