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DM: dangling modifiers (and other misrelated modifiers).

Modifying phrases must refer clearly to an appropriate word or phrase.

If your teacher marks “DM” on your paper, you may have made one of the two errors listed immediately below or DP, DMT, DMAp, DMAd, or SqM. Identify which error you made and correct it.

1. Misplaced modifiers modify the wrong thing. Place a modifier near the word or phrase it should modify.

MISLEADING: The officer left to fight with his troops.

CLEAR: The officer left with his troops to fight.

At best, a misplaced modifier briefly distracts your reader. At worst, it causes ambiguity or embarrassing blunders:

AMBIGUOUS: I waited until my parents sat down to eat my breakfast.

AMBIGUOUS: Pat is in love with Kelly along with Jamie.

EMBARRASSING: I saw a shark snorkeling.

EMBARRASSING: She could not explain why she wanted to get married to her mother.

EMBARRASSING: After letting out a bang, I had to fix the ignition on my car.

EMBARRASSING: While giving birth, her husband fainted.

2. Dangling modifiers. Modifiers are said to “dangle” when the word they should modify does not appear in the sentence.

DANGLING: While taking a test, a fire alarm rang.

It sounds as if the fire alarm is taking the test. Relocation alone does not solve the problem.

STILL DANGLING: While taking a test, there was a fire alarm.

It is not clear who is taking the test. The writer must restructure the sentence:

CLEAR: While taking a test, the sixth graders heard a fire alarm.

CLEAR: While the sixth graders were taking a test, a fire alarm rang.

DMP: misrelated participles and gerunds.

Place participial phrases next to the phrases they modify.

Most dangling modifiers involve participles and gerunds. The error below raises a comical image in readers’ minds. It could have been avoided by asking, “Who is dribbling?”

WRONG: He moves as quickly as a panther dribbling a basketball.

RIGHT: Dribbling a basketball, he moves as quickly as a panther.

Dangling participles are easy to correct if you ask yourself three questions:

1. Which verb is the participle? (It will usually end with “-ing” or “-ed.”)

Walking to school, a dog bit me.

2. Who or what is doing the action? The dog is not walking to school. Readers will assume that the thing or person closest to the participial phrase is acting. If the phrase is closer to another noun or pronoun, it may cause confusion.

3. How can I restructure the sentence to make my meaning clear?

As I was walking to school, a dog bit me.

To speak precisely, we should distinguish the dangling participle from the dangling gerund. In the sentence below, “awakening” is a gerund (an “-ing” verb acting as a noun) because it is the object of the preposition “after.” You can correct it in the same ways you would correct a dangling participle:

DANGLING: Soon after awakening, bad news arrived. (Bad news did not awaken.)

CLEAR (placed correctly): Soon after awakening, he received bad news.

CLEAR (rephrased without gerund): Soon after he awoke, bad news arrived.

DMT: dangling transitions.

Avoid vague transitional phrases that do not clearly modify something. In the following example, it is not clear what “regards” what:

DANGLING: Regarding work experience, I volunteered at a hospital last summer.

CLEAR: I gained first-hand experience last summer as a hospital volunteer.

Some introductory phrases are easy to dangle: “arguably,” “in conclusion,” “personally,” “interestingly,” “more important” (or “more importantly”), and the notorious “hopefully.” Although overused, they are harmless and even handy in casual conversation. For formal speech and writing, the Keables Guide recommends finding better transitional phrases, or at least using the trite ones as grammatically as possible. Most of them, even the phrases, are adverbial; place them next to the verb they should modify.

DANGLING: From what she said, she must be clever. (seems to modify “she”)

CLEAR: I can tell from what she said that she is clever. (modifies “tell”)

DANGLING: Hopefully, UCLA will accept me. (UCLA is not the hopeful one)

CLEAR: I hope UCLA will accept me.

CLEAR: I wait hopefully for good news from UCLA. (modifies “wait”)

DM.Ap: dangling or misplaced appositives.

Either supply a clearly equivalent appositive, or rephrase the sentence.

The writer of the next sentence unintentionally incriminates herself:

MISPLACED: A sneaky liar, I wish I had known the truth about her sister.

It sounds as if the writer is the liar. To correct the error, either place the appositive next to what it modifies or restructure the sentence without an appositive:

CLEAR (placed correctly): I wish I had known the truth about her sister, a sneaky liar.

CLEAR (rephrased): I wish I had realized earlier that her sister is a sneaky liar.

The next error is slightly different, because there is no noun or noun phrase equivalent to “pleasant surprise” in the sentence.

DANGLING: A pleasant surprise, the test was easy.

The test itself is not the surprise; the writer expected to take it. To correct the error, either supply a true equivalent or restructure the sentence:

CLEAR: I had a pleasant surprise when the test turned out to be easy.

DM.Ad: misplaced adverbs and adjectives.

Place adverbs and adjectives close to the words they should modify.

The misplaced word is usually an adverb. Sometimes you can correct the error by changing an adverb to an adjective.

MISLEADING: He begged her not to speak sincerely.

CLEAR (relocated): He begged her sincerely not to speak.

CLEAR (adjective): He made a sincere request that she refrain from speaking.

Be especially careful with the words “only” and “not”:

MISLEADING: She only likes me.

CLEAR: She likes only me.

MISLEADING: All of us are not honest.

CLEAR: Not all of us all are honest.

SqM: squinting modifiers.

Relocate a modifier ambiguously located between two phrases.

The following sentence can mean two things:

AMBIGUOUS: I drink skim milk only because I am on a diet.

CLEAR: Because I am on a diet, I drink only skim milk.

CLEAR: Only because I am on a diet do I drink skim milk.

SI: split infinitives.

Relocate words that come between “to” and the infinitive form of a verb. A split infinitive is a minor flaw of style established by old custom, not by rules of grammar or logic. A sentence like “You have to truly love what you’re doing” sounds natural. However, to ears accustomed to English, the split infinitive may ring a sour note, especially in formal writing. Usually it is easy to relocate the modifier:

SPLIT INFINITIVE: I tried to quietly exit.

REVISED: I tried to exit quietly.

SPLIT INFINITIVE: He vowed to never leave her.

REVISED: He vowed never to leave her.

If there is no perfect location for the modifying phrase, do not eliminate it; rephrase the sentence.

SPLIT INFINITIVE: My mother told me to always leave a room as neat as it was when I entered.

REVISED: My mother told me I should always leave a room as neat as it was when I entered.