Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers
Ideally, a modifier should be placed close to the word or words it modifies, so that a reader can easily spot the connection. A misplaced modifier may cause confusion because it seems to modify the wrong thing or even seems to modify two things at once:
Misplaced: The dog was begging scraps of food from the guests under the table.
[The dog was under the table, not the guests.]
Corrected: The dog was under the table, begging scraps of food from the guests.
Under the table the dog was begging scraps of food from the guests.
The adverb only is frequently misplaced in sentences.
Misplaced: I only have five sheets of paper left.
Corrected: I have only five sheets of paper left.
Misplaced: At lunch I only ate my banana.
Corrected: At lunch I ate only my banana.
Misplaced: Ms. Smith was only charged with five of the ten counts against her.
Corrected: Ms. Smith was charged with only five of the ten counts against her.
A dangling modifier occurs when there is no word in the sentence to which the modifier can be properly and logically attached. Most, but not all, dangling modifiers appear at the beginning of the sentence.
Dangling: Turning on the air conditioner, a fuse blew out.
Analysis of the mistake: An introductory participial phrase should describe the subject of the sentence. However, in the above sentence, the subject is fuse. Obviously the fuse did not turn on the air conditioner. There are at least two ways to correct such dangling modifiers:
Corrected: When I turned on the air conditioner, a fuse blew out.
Turning on the air conditioner, I blew out a fuse.
Practice: Rewrite each sentence to correct the misplaced or dangling modifier.
1. I only have eyes for you.
2. Andrew bought a corsage for his girlfriend with orchids.
3. Wynn served some tea to her guests icy cold from the refrigerator.
4. Having finished weeding the garden, Len’s sweater was full of burrs.
5. We saw a large, graceful willow tree strolling around the lake.
6. After installing a skylight, the room looked not only brighter but also larger.
7. Flying at the end of a heavy cord, we saw a beautiful box kite.
8. We saw John hit a long home run from the bleachers.
9. I only have ten more problems to finish.
10. From a news broadcast: The company only employs eight people now.
11. From a reality show: At five years old, my father died.
Dangling modifiers from student essays:
12. Strutting into the locker room, most of the guys didn’t recognize me at first.
13. Sweat rolling down his face, I knew something terrible had happened.
14. Waking up before the sun rose, the cold, dry air was crisp and sharp to breathe.
15. Pouring the powder and milk into a cup and then placing the mixture into the microwave, thoughts ran through her mind.
From an ad in a Rockwall magazine:
16. Just graduating from Texas A&M University and starting interviews for my first job, my new smile gave me the confidence needed to get the position I wanted.
From a newspaper:
17. On All-Star weekend, the city gleamed with banners welcoming visitors hanging from lampposts.
Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers
Ideally, a modifier should be placed close to the word or words it modifies, so that a reader can easily spot the connection. A misplaced modifier may cause confusion because it seems to modify the wrong thing or even seems to modify two things at once:
Misplaced: The dog was begging scraps of food from the guests under the table.
[The dog was under the table, not the guests.]
Corrected: The dog was under the table, begging scraps of food from the guests.
Under the table the dog was begging scraps of food from the guests.
The adverb only is frequently misplaced in sentences.
Misplaced: I only have five sheets of paper left.
Corrected: I have only five sheets of paper left.
Misplaced: At lunch I only ate my banana.
Corrected: At lunch I ate only my banana.
Misplaced: Ms. Smith was only charged with five of the ten counts against her.
Corrected: Ms. Smith was charged with only five of the ten counts against her.
A dangling modifier occurs when there is no word in the sentence to which the modifier can be properly and logically attached. Most, but not all, dangling modifiers appear at the beginning of the sentence.
Dangling: Turning on the air conditioner, a fuse blew out.
Analysis of the mistake: An introductory participial phrase should describe the subject of the sentence. However, in the above sentence, the subject is fuse. Obviously the fuse did not turn on the air conditioner.
There are at least two ways to correct such dangling modifiers:
Corrected: When I turned on the air conditioner, a fuse blew out.
Turning on the air conditioner, I blew out a fuse.
Practice: Revise each sentence to correct the misplaced or dangling modifier.
1. I only have eyes for you.
2. Andrew bought a corsage for his girlfriend with orchids.
3. Wynn served some tea to her guests icy cold from the refrigerator.
4. Having finished weeding the garden, Len’s sweater was full of burrs.
5. We saw a large, graceful willow tree strolling around the lake.
6. After installing a skylight, the room looked not only brighter but also larger.
7. Flying at the end of a heavy cord, we saw a beautiful box kite.
8. We saw John hit a long home run from the bleachers.
9. I only have ten more problems to finish.
10. From a news broadcast:
The company only employs eight people now.
11. From a reality show: At five years old, my father died.
Dangling modifiers from student essays:
12. Strutting into the locker room, most of the guys didn’t recognize me at first.
13. Sweat rolling down his face, I knew something terrible had happened.
14. Waking up before the sun rose, the cold, dry air was crisp and sharp to breathe.
15. Pouring the powder and milk into a cup and then placing the mixture into the microwave, thoughts ran through her mind.
16. From an ad in a Rockwall magazine:
Just graduating from Texas A&M University and starting interviews for my first job, my new smile gave me the confidence needed to get the position I wanted.
17. From a newspaper: On All-Star weekend, the city gleamed with banners welcoming visitors hanging from lampposts.
ANSWER KEY
Practice: Rewrite each sentence to correct the misplaced or dangling modifier.
1. I only have eyes for you.
I have eyes for you only. I have eyes only for you.
It would be rude to say the following: Only I have eyes for you.
2. Andrew bought a corsage for his girlfriend with orchids.
Andrew bought a corsage with orchids for his girlfriend.
3. Wynn served some tea to her guests icy cold from the refrigerator.
Wynn served some icy cold tea to her guests.
4. Having finished weeding the garden, Len’s sweater was full of burrs.
Having finished weeding the garden, Len saw that his sweater was full of burrs.
After Len finished weeding the garden, his sweater was full of burrs.
5. We saw a large, graceful willow tree strolling around the lake.
Strolling around the lake, we saw a large, graceful willow tree.
6. After installing a skylight, the room looked not only brighter but also larger.
After we installed a skylight, the room looked...
After installing a skylight, we thought that the room looked...
7. Flying at the end of a heavy cord, we saw a beautiful box kite.
We saw a beautiful box kite flying at the end of a heavy cord.
8. We saw John hit a long home run from the bleachers.
From the bleachers, we saw John hit a long home run.
9. I only have ten more problems to finish.
I have only ten more problems to finish.
10. From a news broadcast: The company only employs eight people now.
The company employs only eight people now.
11. From a reality show: At five years old, my father died.
When I was five years old, my father died.
Dangling modifiers from student essays:
12. Strutting into the locker room, most of the guys didn’t recognize me at first.
Most of the guys didn’t recognize me at first when I strutted into the locker room
Strutting into the locker room, I realized that most of the guys didn’t recognize me at first.
13. Sweat rolling down his face, I knew something terrible had happened.
When I saw sweat rolling down his face, I knew something terrible had happened.
14. Waking up before the sun rose, the cold, dry air was crisp and sharp to breathe.
Because we woke up before the sun rose, the cold, dry air was crisp and sharp to breathe.
15. Pouring the powder and milk into a cup and then placing the mixture into the microwave, thoughts ran through her mind.
As/While she poured the powder and milk into a cup and then placed the mixture into the microwave, thoughts ran through her mind.
From an ad in a Rockwall magazine:
16. Just graduating from Texas A&M University and starting interviews for my first job, my new smile gave me the confidence needed to get the position I wanted.
After I graduated from Texas A&M University and started interviews for my first job, my new smile gave me...
From a newspaper:
17. On All-Star weekend, the city gleamed with banners welcoming visitors hanging from lampposts.
On All-Star weekend, the city gleamed as it welcomed the visitors with banners hanging from lampposts.
The following would not be correct because the lampposts would be welcoming the visitors: ...the city gleamed with banners hanging from lampposts welcoming the visitors.