Misplaced Modifiers

A misplaced modifier, because it is not correctly placed in the sentence, describes the wrong word or words. To correct a misplaced modifier, move the modifier as close as possible to the word or words it modifies. The safest choice is often to put the modifier directly before the sentence element it modifies.

MISPLACED image [Was my dog driving a car? No, Rudy was, so the modifier must come right before or right after his name.]
CORRECT image

Four sentence constructions in particular often lead to misplaced modifiers:

  1. Modifiers such as only, almost, hardly, nearly, and just

    image [Was Molly awake, almost sleeping for ten hours? No, she slept for just under ten hours.]

  2. Modifiers that start with -ing verbs

    image [Note that when you move the phrase beginning with an -ing verb to the beginning of the sentence, you need to follow it with a comma.]

  3. Modifiers that are prepositional phrases

    image

  4. Modifiers that are clauses starting with who, whose, that, or which

    image