Misplaced and Dangling Modfiers

1. Misplaced and Dangling Modfiers Be sure to add this entry to your Table of Contents in your Writer’s Notebooks

4. What is a modifier • A modifier is a word or group of words that describes the meaning of another word or phrase. • Modifiers can be a word, phrase, or clause: • Example • The silver fish (word) • The fish in the pond (phrase) • The fist that he caught (clause) Identify the modifiers in the sentence below. The little boy standing near the concession stand reminds me of my brother.

5. What are misplaced modifiers • A misplaced modifier is a word or group of words that are not in the right place in a sentence. They can describe the wrong word in a sentence or change the intended meaning. • Examples: of Misplaced Modifiers Covered in mud, Mark wiped off the trembling puppy. Correct: Mark wiped off the trembling puppy covered in mud. Smelling sour, Tamara poured out the milk. Correct: Tamara poured out the sour smelling milk

6. What is a dangling modifier? • Dangling modifiers occur when a modifier describes a word or phrase that does not appear in the sentence. • Examples of Dangling modifiers: Falling asleep, the car steered into the bushes. Correct: Falling asleep, Trisha steered the car in to the bushes. After running the marathon, exhaustion overcame me. Correct: After running the marathon, I was overcome by exhaustion.

7. Guided Practice • Correct each of the following sentences with a misplaced modifier. • The woman was feeding the cat in the blue pumps. • Beating his chest, Stewart watched the gorilla go berserk.

8. Guided Practice • Correct each the dangling modifier in each sentence. • After visiting the processing plant, meat will never taste the same again. • The fundraiser was succesful having run 100 laps for $10, 000.