Problems with Modifiers
Essential Information:
A modifier gives information about a word, phrase, or clause in a sentence and changes or clarifies its meaning.
There are three kinds of modifiers:
Adjectives: words that describe nouns or pronouns.
Adverbs: words that describe verbs, adjectives and other adverbs.
Word groups: Phrases and clauses that function as adjectives or adverbs by adding meaning to nouns, pronouns, and verbs.
What’s the Issue?
Dangling and misplaced modifiers confuse meaning in sentences. Dangling modifiers occur when a phrase "suggests” but does not name the noun or pronoun that performs the action of the sentence. When a sentence opens with such a modifier, readers expect the subject of the next clause to name the actor; if it doesn't, the modifier dangles. A modifier is misplaced when it grammatically refers to something other than what the author intends.
Examples:
Dangling Modifier: At the age of nine, my dad was transferred to the Boeing plant in Everett.
Thisperson's father is undoubtedly bright, but it is unlikely he worked at Boeing when he was nine.
Correction: When I was nine, my dad was transferred to the Boeing plant in Everett.
Dangling Modifier: Playing with a ball of string, we sat and watched our kitten.
This could be the picture of a family who loves simple pleasures, but the cat is probably the one playing with the string.
Correction: We sat and watched our kitten play with ball of string.
Misplaced Modifier: We saw a deer and a fawn on the way to the mall.
Were the deer and the fawn on the way to the mall? Probably not.
Correction: On the way to the mall, we saw a deer and a fawn.
Let's Practice:
Re-write the following sentences to correct the misplaced modifiers.
1) Garbed in a bikini, he watched her strolling along. (Dangling)
2) My brother-in-law took me to the hospital after breaking my leg. (Misplaced)
3) Glowing in the dark garden, we watched hundreds of fireflies. (Dangling)
4) The runners stood ignoring the crowd in their lanes. (Misplaced)
5) After cleaning its cage and replacing its water and seeds, my canary began to sing. (Dangling)
Answers:
1) He watched her strolling along, garbed in a sting bikini. 2) My brother-in-law took me to the hospital after I broke my leg. 3) We watched hundreds of fireflies glowing in the dark garden. 4) The runners stood in their lanes ignoring the crowd. 5) After I cleaned the cage and put in fresh water and seed, my canary began to sing.
*Note: Information taken from The Everyday Writer by Andrea Lundsford and Robert Connors