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Misplaced Modifiers
Misplaced Modifiers
A misplaced modifier is too far from the word it is meant to describe, making the sentence unclear or awkward.
Example:
Example:
❌ Misplaced: The girl served cookies to the guests on fancy plates.
✔ Corrected: The girl served cookies on fancy plates to the guests.
What’s wrong? The misplaced modifier ("on fancy plates") makes it sound like the guests are sitting on fancy plates instead of the cookies being served on them!
More Examples:
More Examples:
❌ He nearly drove his family to the airport all day. (Did he drive "nearly" or "his family" all day?)
✔He spent nearly all day driving his family to the airport
❌ The teacher gave homework to the students with a lot of math problems. (Are the students full of math problems?)
✔ The teacher gave the students homework with a lot of math problems.
Dangling Modifiers
Dangling Modifiers
A dangling modifier is a phrase that doesn’t clearly describe anything in the sentence because the subject it’s meant to describe is missing.
Example:
Example:
❌ Dangling: Walking to school, the rain started pouring.
✔ Corrected: Walking to school, I got caught in the rain.
What’s wrong? The sentence makes it sound like the rain is walking to school!
More Examples:
More Examples:
❌ After finishing the project, the computer shut down. (Did the computer finish the project?)
✔ After finishing the project, I shut down the computer.
❌ Hoping to make the team, practice every day is necessary. (Who is hoping?)
✔ Hoping to make the team, I practice every day.
To fix a misplaced modifier, move it closer to the word it is meant to describe for clarity.
To fix a dangling modifier, rewrite the sentence to clearly state the subject being modified.
Our brains tend to fix many of these when we hear them or read them, but you don't want to run the risk of confusing your audience when it comes to a more important topic.
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