See B1 in the Quick Editing Guide for more on editing for misplaced or dangling modifiers.
The purpose of a modifier, such as an adjective or adverb, is to give readers more information. To do so, the modifier must be linked clearly to whatever it is meant to modify or describe. If you wrote, “We saw a stone wall around a house on a grassy hill, beautiful and distant,” your readers would have to guess what was beautiful and distant: the wall, the house, or the hill. Edit your modifiers — especially prepositional phrases and subordinate clauses — to make sure each is in the right place.
| 10a | Keep modifiers close to what they modify |
Misplaced modifiers — phrases and clauses that wander away from what they modify — produce results more likely to amuse readers than to inform them. Place your modifiers as close as possible to whatever they modify.
| MISPLACED | She offered toys to all the children in colorful packages. [Does the phrase in colorful packages modify toys or children?] |
| CLEAR | She offered toys in colorful packages to all the children. |
| MISPLACED | We removed the dishes from the crates that got chipped. [Does the clause that got chipped modify dishes or crates?] |
| CLEAR | We removed from the crates the dishes that got chipped. |
| 10b | Place each modifier so that it clearly modifies only one thing |
A squinting modifier is one that looks two ways, leaving the reader uncertain whether it modifies the word before or after it. To avoid ambiguity, place your modifier close to the word it modifies and away from another that might cause confusion.
| SQUINTING | The book that appealed to Amy tremendously bored Marcus. |
| CLEAR | The book that tremendously appealed to Amy bored Marcus. |
| CLEAR | The book that appealed to Amy bored Marcus tremendously. |
| 10c | State something in the sentence for each modifier to modify |
main clause: A group of words that has both a subject and a verb and can stand alone as a complete sentence: My friends play softball.
Generally readers assume that a modifying phrase at the start of a sentence refers to the subject of the main clause to follow. If readers encounter a modifying phrase midway through a sentence, they assume that it modifies something just before or (less often) after it.
Feeling tired after the long hike, Jason went to bed.
Alicia, while sympathetic, was not inclined to help.
Sometimes a writer slips up, allowing a modifying phrase to dangle. A dangling modifier is one that doesn’t modify anything in its sentence.
| DANGLING | Noticing a pain behind his eyes, an aspirin seemed a good idea. [The opening doesn’t modify aspirin or, in fact, anything.] |
To correct a dangling modifier, first figure out what noun, pronoun, or noun phrase the modifier is meant to modify. Then make that word or phrase the subject of the main clause.
| CLEAR | Noticing a pain behind his eyes,he decided to take an aspirin. |
Another way to correct a dangling modifier is to turn the dangler into a clause that includes the missing noun or pronoun.
| DANGLING | Her progress, although talented, has been slowed by poor work habits. |
| CLEAR | Although she is talented, her progress has been slowed by poor work habits. |
Sometimes rewriting will clarify what the modifier modifies.
| CLEAR | Although talented, she has been hampered by poor work habits. |