DANGLING AND MISPLACED MODIFIERS

                                             Photo by George Bakos on Unsplash
 

I've been away from Blogger for several months now. Since things are changing here, I will probably move my posts to a different site. After the pandemic started, I didn't spend as much time on social media. Like this unplugged, abandoned television in George Bako's photo, I was isoloated and felt out of place. And I noticed other bloggers either stopped posting or moved their posts off Blogger. 

Today, I wanted to blog again. Dangling and misplaced modifiers came to mind. Sometimes writers write unclear sentences and end up with something silly. This is the case with dangling modifiers. A dangling modifier is usually a prepositional or participial phrase that describes, or gives more detail about the wrong word. The word it was supposed to modify was left out of the sentence, and the modifier was placed near the wrong word, leaving the modifier dangling.

Let me give you some examples:

While still in diapers, my father remarried. 

Ha ha. Babies don't get married, so we know this is a messed up sentence. Since while in diapers is next to my father, the sentence means my father was still in diapers. It should refer to the narrator, and the word I isn’t in the sentence. To correct this, the I should be added. While I was still in diapers, my father remarried.

Here is another dangler with the same problem:

While reading a book on the sofa, my cat jumped onto my lap.

Cats don’t know how to read, so this is silly. Instead, it should say: While I was reading on the sofa, my cat jumped onto my lap. Or: While I read on the sofa, my cat jumped onto my lap. 

 Here is a misplaced modifier which has a similar problem:

He read from his Kindle wearing glasses.

We can assume it is the male in this sentence who is wearing glasses, but the way it’s written says the book is wearing glasses since the modifier is next to Kindle. Maybe rewrite it as: He wore glasses and read from his Kindle.

Here is another problem sentence:

At the bottom of the aquarium, Leslie saw the eel.

Leslie wasn't swimming in the aquarium with the eel. To fix this issue, rewrite it like this. Leslie saw the eel at the bottom of the aquarium.

One day, I walked the dog in my pajamas.

A four legged dog can't wear two legged pajamas. The fix: One day, while I wore pajamas, I walked the dog.

I am selling several old hats from grandpa in great condition.

Is grandpa in great condition or are the hats? How about: I'm selling several old hats in great condition that belonged to my grandpa.

It’s important to edit your writing to avoid silly mistakes. I hope this brief post helps you understand how to identify a misplaced or dangling modifier and how to fix it.