Mangling Modifiers

1. Misplaced Modifiers

2. Dangling Modifiers

Don’t dangle (or misplace) your participle in public!

From Mary Poppins:

Bert: “I know a man with a wooden leg named Smith.”

Albert: “What’s the name of the other leg?”

-Examples provided by Richard Lederer.

Examples

Yoko Ono will talk about her husband, John Lennon, who was killed in an interview with Barbara Walters.

She watched as her father returned home with horses all dressed in cowboy attire.

More Examples

It is time to renew your Denver city license for your pet, which expires in a month.

An oil spill was first reported to the Coast Guard in early May by a person who saw oil-covered rocks walking along the shore.

More Examples

Hunters have gained the right to hunt deer in the Illinois Supreme Court.

We saw many bears driving through Yellowstone Park.

More Examples

A new security device can detect a person approaching your home right through the walls.

A flight attendant announced, “I have a pearl earring from a passenger I found on the floor.”

What is a modifier anyway?

A MODIFIER is a word or phrase which describes another word or phrase (acts as an adjective or adverb would).

Examples of Modifiers

Single word modifier (adjective or adverb)

Participle PhrasePrepositional PhraseAdjective ClauseAdverb Clause

Misplaced Modifiers

A modifier functions to clarify or make more definite the word it modifies.

Place modifiers as closely as possible to the words they modify. Otherwise, the sentence becomes more confusing (remember…you were trying to clarify, not to confuse).

Misplaced modifiers confuse readers.

Confusing:

Pink Sophie wears a shirt.

Clear:

Sophie wears a pink shirt.

**The word pink is meant to modify the word shirt, not Sophie. Thus pink should be next to the word shirt, not next to the word Sophie.

Misplaced modifiers confuse readers.

Confusing:

I bought a small computer for the staff, which gave everyone a great deal of trouble.

Clear:

I bought the staff a small computer, which gave everyone a great deal of trouble.

Misplaced Modifiers…Recap

If a sentence has a misplaced modifier, then a modifier is present in the sentence, it’s just in the wrong place.

To correct a sentence with a misplaced modifier, just move the modifying word or phrase as close as possible to the word it modifies.

Misplaced Modifiers…Practice

Correct the following sentence:

Yoko Ono will talk about her husband, John Lennon, who was killed in an interview with Barbara Walters.

Correction:

In an interview with Barbara Walters, Yoko Ono will talk about her husband, John Lennon, who was killed.

Misplaced Modifiers…Practice

Correct the following sentence:

We saw many bears driving through Yellowstone Park.

Correction:

Driving through Yellowstone Park, we saw many bears.

While we were driving through Yellowstone Park, we saw many bears.

In the first correction, the participle phrase is merely moved. In the second, the participle phrase is changed to a dependent clause, a DC, IC sentence.

Dangling Modifiers

Dangling modifiers are modifiers that appear in sentences but have no words in the sentence to sensibly modify.

Dangling modifiers are nonsensical, like having an adjective in a sentence without a noun to modify: Sophie wears a pink.

Dangling Modifiers

Dangling modifier:

Carrying a heavy pile of books, her foot caught on the step.

Correction:

Carrying a heavy pile of books, she caught her foot on the step.

Dangling Modifiers

Dangling modifier:

Representing the conservative point of view, the liberals rebutted her.

Correction:

Representing the conservative point of view, she was rebutted by the liberals.

Dangling Modifiers…Recap

If a sentence has a dangling modifier, then the modifier is present in the sentence, but the noun it modifies is not present.

To correct a sentence with a dangling modifier, just add the noun that’s being modified.

Place the noun as closely as possible to the dangling modifier.

Dangling Modifiers…Practice

Correct the following sentence:

To win the baseball championship this year, Luis and Oscar should join our team.

Who is trying to win the baseball championship? Add that noun to the sentence.

Correction:

To win the baseball championship this year, we should get Luis and Oscar to join our team.

If we want to win the baseball championship this year, Louis and Oscar should join our team.

Dangling Modifiers…Practice

Correct the following sentence:

Left alone in the house, the thunderstorm terrified him.

Who was left alone in the house? You have to add the person into the sentence.

Correction:

Left alone in the house, he was terrified by the thunderstorm.

When he was left alone in the house, the thunderstorm terrified him.

In the first correction, the word he is added next to the participle phrase. In the second sentence, the participle phrase is changed to a dependent clause to form a DC,IC sentence.

Review

A MODIFIER is a word or phrase which describes another word or phrase.

Types of modifiers include: Adjective or adverb Participle phrase Prepositional phrase Adjective clause Adverb clause

Review

A misplaced modifier occurs when A modifier is present in the sentence The noun it modifies is also present The modifier is in the wrong place

because it is not next to the noun it modifies

Review

To correct a misplaced modifier: Simply move the modifier in the

sentence so that it is next to the word it modifies.

Or, change the sentence into a DC,IC sentence that makes sense.

Review

A dangling modifier occurs when A modifier is present in the

sentence The word the modifier describes

is not present in the sentence

Review

To correct a dangling modifier: Simply add to the sentence a word

which the modifier should sensibly describe.

Or, change the sentence into a DC,IC sentence that makes sense.

The End

Created by Sarah Fergusson

2005