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