English Essentials ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

English EssentialsEnglish Essentials

John LanganJohn LanganBeth JohnsonBeth Johnson

Chapter Twenty

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

English Essentials ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2

• When building a sentence, avoid needless separation of related parts of the sentence.

– A misplaced modifier is positioned in a sentence so that it is unclear which word, phrase, or clause is modified.

Misplaced Parts

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

English Essentials ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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• Modifiers such as almostalmost, , onlyonly,, justjust, , eveneven, , hardlyhardly, , nearlynearly, and merelymerely, should be placed immediately before the words they modify.

– Example:

My mother only works on Saturdays and Sundays.

• This sentence indicates that the mother only works -- she does not eat, sleep, or talk.

• Modifiers such as almostalmost, , onlyonly,, justjust, , eveneven, , hardlyhardly, , nearlynearly, and merelymerely, should be placed immediately before the words they modify.

– Example:

My mother only works on Saturdays and Sundays.

• This sentence indicates that the mother only works -- she does not eat, sleep, or talk.

Misplaced Parts

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

English Essentials ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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We must place the modifier before a different word so the sentence is clearly understood.

Ex.: My mother only works on Saturdays and Sundays.

Revised: My mother works only on Saturdays and Sundays.

Misplaced Parts

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

English Essentials ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

5

A modifyingphrase should

clearly indicatewhat the phrase

modifies.

Example…..Example…..Her job is to file newspaperarticles about handgun use in the library.

Example…..Example…..Her job is to file newspaperarticles about handgun use in the library.

Revised…..Revised…..Her job in the library is to file newspaper articles about handgun use.

Revised…..Revised…..Her job in the library is to file newspaper articles about handgun use.

Misplaced Parts

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

English Essentials ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Modifying clauses should beplaced near the words they modify.

Modifying clauses should beplaced near the words they modify.

Example…..Example…..The librarian explains

how they use the computer to do research

before the classbegins.

Example…..Example…..The librarian explains

how they use the computer to do research

before the classbegins.

Revised…..Revised…..Before the class

begins, the librarian explains

how they use the computer to do research.

Revised…..Revised…..Before the class

begins, the librarian explains

how they use the computer to do research.

Modifying Clauses

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

English Essentials ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Dangling Modifiers

A modifier that opens a sentence must be followed immediately by the word it is meant to describe.

Otherwise, the result is a

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

English Essentials ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

8

Dangling Modifiers

Here’s an example:

Jumping from limb to limb, the spectators at the zoo were delighted by the monkeys.

(The spectators weren’t jumping, were they?)

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

English Essentials ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

9

Dangling Modifiers

That’s the trouble with

Your sentences take on an unintended meaning.

Let’s correct the sentence about the monkeys.

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

English Essentials ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

10

Dangling Modifiers

Incorrect:

Jumping from limb to limb, the spectators at the zoo were delighted by the monkeys.

Correct:Correct:

Jumping from limb to limb, the monkeys delighted the spectators at the zoo.

How did the sentence change?

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

English Essentials ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

11

Dangling Modifiers

We put the subject right after the opening word group.

Jumping from limb to Jumping from limb to limb, the limb, the delighted the delighted the spectators at the zoo.spectators at the zoo.

Can we fix the sentence another way?

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

English Essentials ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

12

Dangling Modifiers

Yes! We can place the subject within the opening word group.

While the were While the were jumping from limb jumping from limb to limb, they to limb, they delighted the delighted the spectators at the zoo.spectators at the zoo.

Let’s review. . .

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

English Essentials ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

13

Correcting Dangling Modifiers

Decide on a logical subject, and do one of the following:

1. Place the subject right after the opening word group.

OROR

2. Place the subject within the opening word group.