36 Modifier Placement

Modifiers enrich writing by making it more concrete or vivid, often adding important or even essential details. To be effective, modifiers should refer clearly to the words they modify and be positioned close to those words. Consider, for example, a sign seen recently in a hotel:

image

do not use the elevators in case of fire.

Should we really avoid the elevators altogether for fear of causing a fire? Repositioning the modifier in case of fire eliminates such confusion—and makes clear that we are to avoid the elevators only if there is a fire: in case of fire, do not use the elevators. This chapter reviews the conventions of accurate modifier placement.

Editing Misplaced or Dangling Modifiers

AT A GLANCE

  1. Identify all the modifiers in each sentence, and draw an arrow from each modifier to the word it modifies.
  2. If a modifier is far from the word it modifies, try to move the two closer together. (36a)
  3. Does any modifier seem to refer to a word other than the one it is intended to modify? If so, move the modifier so that it refers clearly to only the intended word. (36a)
  4. If you cannot find the word to which a modifier refers, revise the sentence: supply such a word, or revise the modifier itself so that it clearly refers to a word already in the sentence. (36c)