Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

What is a misplaced modifier? Modifiers are words or word groups that describe other words in a sentence. In the following sentence, the words in bold modify woman. The woman who is sitting by the door is my sister. A misplaced modifier, because it is not correctly placed, describes the wrong word or words: INCORRECT: Marcy saw the neighbor’s dog drinking a cocktail. CORRECT: Drinking a cocktail, Marcy saw the neighbor’s dog. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Four types of modifiers are often misplaced: Modifiers such as only, almost, hardly, nearly, and just. Modifiers that start with –ing verbs, like playing, dancing, driving, singing. Modifiers that are prepositional phrases (phrases that begin with prepositions like in, on, at, around). Modifying word groups that start with who, whose, that, or which. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

What is a dangling modifier? A dangling modifier “dangles” because the word or words it is supposed to describe are not in the sentence. INCORRECT: Jogging in the park, a dog bit me. [The dog wasn’t jogging in the park; the actual jogger is missing from the sentence.] CORRECT: Jogging in the park, I got bitten by a dog. or While I was jogging in the park, a dog bit me. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Fix the following sentence: The convict saw a large green cricket, limping from the prison. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Answer: Limping from the prison, the convict saw a large green cricket. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Fix the following sentence: (continued 1) The recipe only calls for one cup of sugar. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Answer: (continued 1) The recipe calls for only one cup of sugar. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Fix the following sentence: (continued 2) In my kitchen, I saw your ex-husband on the TV watching the news. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Answer: (continued 2) While watching TV in my kitchen, I saw your ex- husband on the news. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Fix the following sentence: (continued 3) Swimming at the beach, the water became too rough and cold. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Answer: (continued 3) While we were swimming at the beach, the water became too rough and cold. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Fix the following sentence: (continued 4) I think I saw a comet in the sky jogging last night. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Answer: (continued 4) Jogging last night, I think I saw a comet in the sky. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Editing for Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s