Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

Learning Objectives

In this workshop, you will focus on the following objective:
Grammar:

• Understanding how to avoid misplaced and dangling modifiers.

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

Prepositional and Participial Phrases as Modifiers 

Prepositional phrases can act as adjectives or adverbs. 

        With bright faces, tripped merrily beside their parents. 

With bright faces is a prepositional phrase acting as an adjective. 

A participle is a verb form that ends in –ed or –ing. Participial phrases always act as adjectives. 

        Passing into the chamber, Hooper spoke the funeral prayer, which created a solemn mood.

Passing into the chamber is a participial phrase.

Literature Connection 

In the quotation below, Hawthorne places the phrase with bright faces directly after the noun it modifies, children. 

“Children, with bright faces, tripped merrily beside their parents...”

—Nathaniel Hawthorne, from “The Minister’s Black Veil”

If Hawthorne had written Children tripped merrily beside their parents, with bright faces, one could interpret with bright faces as modifying parents. A modifier placed in such a way that it appears to modify something it does not is a misplaced modifier.

To correct a misplaced modifier, move it closer in the sentence to the word or phrase that it modifies.

Misplaced:
        Children tripped merrily beside their parents, with bright faces. (It sounds as though the parents have bright faces.)
Corrected:
        Children, with bright faces, tripped merrily beside their parents. (It is clear that the children have bright faces.)

A modifier that does not clearly or logically modify any word in a sentence is a dangling modifier: Passing into the chamber, the funeral prayer created a solemn mood. What does Passing into the chamber modify?

To correct a dangling modifier, add to the sentence a word or phrase that the modifier goes with.

Dangling:
        Passing into the chamber, the funeral prayer created a solemn mood. (What is passing into the chamber is not stated.) 

Corrected:
        Passing into the chamber, Hooper spoke the funeral prayer, which created a solemn mood. (It is clear that Hooper is passing.)

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers Quiz

Select whether each sentence contains a dangling modifier or a misplaced modifier.