Awkwardly placed modifiers

As a rule, a sentence should flow from subject to verb to object, without lengthy detours along the way. In general, don’t separate subject and verb, verb and object, or helping verb from main verb.

Heading: Separating subject and verb. Example sentence with editing. Original sentence: Hong Kong, after more than 150 years of British rule, was transferred back to Chinese control in 1997. Revised sentence: After more than 150 years of British rule, Hong Kong was transferred back to Chinese control in 1997.

There is no reason to separate the subject, Hong Kong, from the verb, was transferred, with a long adverb phrase. Moving the modifier to the left, in front of the subject, allows the writer to reunite the subject and predicate.

Heading: Separating verb and object. Example sentence with editing. Original sentence: Harry Potter learns on his journey through adolescence the value of having surrogate parents. Revised sentence: On his journey through adolescence, Harry Potter learns the value of having surrogate parents.

Heading: Separating helping verb and main verb. Example sentence with editing. Original sentence: We should in the morning try calling the doctor again. Revised sentence: We should try calling the doctor again in the morning.

Style point: Delayed verb opens in new window

Multilingual: Adverb between verb and object opens in new window

Exercises:

Awkward and misplaced modifiers

Misplaced modifiers 1

Misplaced modifiers 2

Misplaced modifiers 3