Problems with Modifiers

1. Problems with Modifiers Identifying and revising misplaced and dangling modifiers

2. What’s a modifier? • Modifiers are words, phrases, or clauses that provide description in sentences • Modifiers can be adjectives, adjective clauses, adverbs, adverb clauses, absolute phrases, infinitive phrases, participle phrases, and prepositional phrases. • There are three common problems regarding modifier usage: • “Squinting” modifier • “Misplaced” modifier • “Dangling” modifier

3. The Basic Principle • Generally, we put the modifier next to the word or phrase that it is modifying. • Modifiers are like teenagers: they fall in love with whatever they're next to. Make sure they're next to something they ought to modify • Failing to use modifiers correctly can result in confused (and sometimes humorous) meaning. • “I’m just really blessed to be here in this beautiful country that God created with my dad.” (Misplaced) • “Students who seek their instructors' advice often can improve their grades.” (Squinting) • “Having been thrown in the air, the dog caught the stick.” (Misplaced) • “Laughing loudly, the joke pleased the audience” (Dangling)

4. Squinting Modifiers • This is a modifier (usually an adverb) whose usage is grammatically correct, but whose meaning is unclear. • Students who seek their instructors' advice often can improve their grades. • The word “often” is placed in a grammatically acceptable position, but the meaning of this sentence is unclear. • Does this mean that students need to seek their instructors’ advice often? Or that if they do, they often can improve their grades? • To improve this sentence, and make the meaning more precise, we should move the “word” often next to the word or phrase we intend to modify • Try to revise this sentence by moving the word often to make the meaning more precise (Hint: There are two places you could move it)

5. Misplaced Modifiers • A modifier placed in an incorrect position in the sentence (i.e. not next to what it is intended to modify) • I’m just really blessed to be here in this beautiful country that God created with my dad. • The modifier “with my dad” is misplaced. As written, the speaker’s dad is creating the beautiful country with God. This is not likely what she meant. • Where can you move “with my dad” to properly place the modifier? • Having been thrown in the air, the dog caught the stick. • The modifier “having been thrown in the air” is misplaced. As written, the closest thing to this modifier is the dog. And thus, grammatically the dog was thrown in the air. This is probably not what was intended. • How can we rephrase this sentence to clarify that the stick was the thing thrown in the air?

6. Dangling Modifiers • A dangling modifier occurs when a phrase improperly modifies something in a way that it cannot be modified. • Laughing loudly, the joke pleased the audience • As phrased, the joke is laughing loudly. A joke cannot laugh, so it cannot be modified in this way. Thus, the modifier is dangling. • How can we rephrase this? • Changing the oil every 3,000 miles, the car seemed to run better. • The car cannot change its own oil, which its doing as written. We cannot modify it in this way. • How can we better phrase this?

7. Practice • For each example, identify if the modifier is misplaced, dangling, or correct as written; then, revise the sentence if needed • Dangling from a strand of web, Dana spotted a spider. • The man put the baby into the crib that had fallen asleep. • We found a box of photographs taken by my grandfather in the trunk under the stairs. • When she was in elementary school, my mother showed me some stories that she had written. • Diego rode over a rugged trail on his mountain bike that was two miles long.