Avoiding Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

1. Avoiding Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

2. What is a misplaced modifier? • A word, phrase, or clause that is improperly separated from the word it modifies/describes • Sentences often sound awkward, ridiculous, or confusing

3. On her way home, Jan found a gold man’s watch. • Is it a gold man’s watch? • Or is it a man’s gold watch?

4. How do we correct this? • Correct by moving the modifier to a more sensible place in the sentence. • Usually next to the word it modifies. On her way home, Jan found a man’s gold watch Now it is the watch that is gold. Correctly place modifier

5. Several kinds of misplaced modifiers • Misplaced adjectives • Placement of adverbs • Misplaced phrases • Misplaced clauses

6. Misplaced Adjectives • Adjective is incorrectly separated from the nouns • The child ate a cold dish of cereal for breakfast this morning. • The child at a dish of cold cereal for breakfast this morning. Misplaced adjective (modifies dish) Correctly placed adjective (modifies cereal)

7. Let’s try one • The torn student’s book lay on the desk. • The student’s torn book lay on the desk. Misplaced adjective (modifies student) Correctly placed adjective (modifies book)

8. Placement of Adverbs • If they are misplaced – can change meaning. • Just John was picked to host the program. • John was just picked to host the program. • John was picked to host just the program.

9. Placement of Adverbs • If they are misplaced – can change meaning. • Just John was picked to host the program. (Only John was picked, no one else) • John was just picked to host the program. (John was picked now) • John was picked to host just the program. (John hosted only the program, nothing else.)

10. Misplaced Adverbs • Misplacing an adverb • alters the intended meaning • also creates a sentence whose meaning is highly unlikely or completely ridiculous • We ate the lunch that we had brought slowly. • We slowly ate the lunch that we had brought. • Did we bring the lunch slowly or did we eat the lunch slowly?

11. Often misplaced adverbs • Watch out for adverbs such as only, just, nearly, merely, and almost. • I only contributed $10.00 to the fund for orphaned children. • I contributed only $10.00 to the fund for orphaned children.

12. Let’s give it a try • I nearly made $50.00 this week. • When we opened the leather woman's purse, we found the missing keys. • The job scarcely took an hour to complete. • I only have five minutes to talk with you. • The striking Honda's paint job made everyone gasp.

13. Misplaced Phrases • May cause a sentence to sound awkward • May create a meaning that does not make sense. • The dealer sold the Cadillac to the buyer with leather seats. • The dealer sold the Cadillac with leather seats to the buyer.

14. Misplaced Phrases • The dealer sold the Cadillac to the buyer with leather seats. • The dealer sold the Cadillac with leather seats to the buyer. Does the buyer have leather seats? Oh, the Cadillac has leather seats!

15. Misplaced Phrases • The three bankers talked quietly in the corner smoking pipes • The three bankers smoking pipes talked quietly in the corner Who was smoking the pipes, the corner or the bankers?

16. Misplaced Phrases • They saw a fence behind the house made of barbed wire. • They saw a fence made of barbed wire behind the house. I’ve never seen a house made out of barbed wire!

17. Can you do this? • We hiked through the forest wearing only light shirts and shorts. • The salesman sold the picture to the short woman in the silver frame. • Michelle whistled to the dog on the way to the movies.

18. Misplaced clauses • May cause a sentence to sound awkward • May create a meaning that does not make sense. • The waiter served a dinner roll to the woman that was well buttered. • The waiter served a dinner roll that was well buttered to the woman. To fix this move the clause next to the noun that is supposed to be modified.

19. Misplaced clauses • Be careful! In correcting a misplaced modifier, don’t create a sentence with two possible meanings. • The teacher said on Monday she would return our essays. Will the essays be returned on Monday or that the teacher spoke on Monday?

20. Dangling Modifiers • A phrase or clause that is not clearly and logically related to the word or words it modifies • A dangling modifier cannot be corrected by simply moving it to a different place in a sentence. • In most cases, the dangling modifier appears at the beginning of the sentence.

21. Dangling Modifiers • Looking toward the west, a funnel shaped cloud stirred up dust. • Who is looking toward the west? Since the modifier is close to the funnel shaped cloud, you would assume the cloud is doing the looking. Dangling modifier

22. Dangling Modifier • What is this sentence saying? • When nine years old, my mother enrolled in medical school. • This means that the mother was nine years old when she enrolled. • Walking to the movies, the cloudburst drenched Jim. (Is the cloudburst walking to the movies?) Dangling modifier Dangling modifier

23. How to correct a dangling modifier • Leave the modifier as it is. • Change the main part of the sentence so that it begins with the term actually modified. • This change will put the modifier next to the term it modifies. Looking toward the west, a funnel shaped cloud stirred up dust. Would be fixed to: Looking toward the west, I saw a funnel shaped cloud stir up dust.

24. Let’s fix this • Walking to the movies, the cloudburst drenched Jim. • Walking to the movies, Jim was drenched by the cloudburst.

25. Let’s fix this • When nine years old, my mother enrolled in medical school. • Change the dangling modifier to a subordinate clause, creating a subject and verb. • Leave the rest of the sentence as is. • When I was nine years old, my mother enrolled in medical school.

26. Activity • Choose a strip with a dangling modifier • Create a picture that reflects the dangling modifier. • Write the dangling modifier at the top of the page, and the corrected sentence at the bottom. • Write your name, and class on the back.

27. Rubric • Colorful/Neat/No Pencil 10 points • Illustration represents dangling/misplaced modifier 15 points • Corrected sentence 15 points • Punctuation/Spelling 10 points

28. Thanks to: http://www.towson.edu/ows/moduledangling.htm