The difference between clarity
and awkwardness.
 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.
 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.
+
=
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.


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.

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!)

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.
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.
 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.

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.
 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.
 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!
I
I
almost listened to the whole album.
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.
 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.