Misplaced Modifiers

Misplaced Modifiers Identification and Removal http://faculty.valenciacc.edu/ataylor/downloads

Misplaced Modifiers The best advice I can give students about modifiers is to use them sparingly. Too many modifiers have the tendency to weaken a piece of writing. They often become crutches for writers preventing them from finding stronger nouns and verbs. Which sentence is stronger? “The small tan toy dog with a high pitched bark walked lazily.” “The yapping Chihuahua loped.”

Misplaced Modifiers The second sentence is stronger because it creates a clearer word picture in the reader’s mind. A small tan toy dog could be any type of dog from an Affenpinscher to a Yorkshire Terrier, but using its proper name instead of an adjective phrase creates a specific image in the mind of the reader. “When you find an adjective, kill it,” Mark Twain.

Misplaced Modifiers A modifier is a word or phrase that adds meaning to or limits another word. For example: “The grey werewolf wearing a blue shirt is softly walking.” In the example the adjective “grey” is modifying the noun “werewolf.” And the adjective “blue” is modifying the noun “shirt.” The adverb “softly” is modifying the present participle “walking.”

Misplaced Modifiers The headword is the word or phrase being modified. In the sentence, “The lonely werewolf howled at the Moon.” “Werewolf” is the headword because it is being modified by the adjective “lonely.”

Misplaced Modifiers A misplaced modifier is a modifier that misses its intended target. The position of the modifier in the sentence causes it to modify the wrong word or to not modify any word at all. “Growling and snapping the lady was stalked by the werewolf.” Was the lady growling and snapping?

Misplaced Modifiers “Growling and snapping the lady was stalked by the werewolf.” In this example, the word “lady” appears to be the headword for the adjectives “Growling and Snapping”; however, this makes no logical sense, so the modifiers must be misplaced. “The lady was stalked by the growling and snapping werewolf.” Now “growling and snapping modify the correct headword, “werewolf.” Place the modifier as close to the headword as possible.

Misplaced Modifiers Writers must use limiting modifiers carefully. Limiting modifiers are words that change the sentence’s meaning depending upon where they are placed. They are words such as: only, not only, just, not just, almost, hardly, nearly, even, exactly, merely, scarcely, and simply.

Misplaced Modifiers Just Spock drank a Pepsi. Spock was the only one drinking Pepsi. Spock just drank a Pepsi. Spock recently drank a Pepsi. Spock drank just a Pepsi. One Pepsi was the only thing Spock drank. Each time the limiting modifier “just” was moved the meaning of the sentence changed.

Misplaced Modifiers Squinting modifiers are modifiers that may modify more than one word or phrase in a sentence. “She said on Sunday she would call.” Did she say it on Sunday? Or is she going to call on Sunday? We don’t know. The phrase “on Sunday” could modify “said” or it could modify “would call.”

Misplaced Modifiers The squinting modifier is unclear because it is between two nouns, and it could logically modify both of them. To correct a squinting modifier move the modifier closer to the intended headword. She said on Sunday she would call. (squinting modifier) On Sunday she said she would call. (corrected) She said she would call on Sunday. (corrected)

Misplaced Modifiers Sometimes a phrase is used as a modifier. Verbal phrases and prepositional phrases may also act as modifiers. When these phrases are misplaced, the results are at best confusing, at worst humorous. Many cats are killed by automobiles roaming unleashed. “Roaming unleashed” is a misplaced verbal phrase. (Automobiles don’t roam.) This is the only cookie in a bag that tastes like Mom’s. “In a bag” is a misplaced prepositional phrase. (The bag doesn’t taste like Mom’s bag.)

Misplaced Modifiers Correct these misplaced modifiers by moving them as close to the headword as possible. Many cats are killed by automobiles roaming unleashed.(Misplaced verbal phrase) Many cats roaming unleashed are killed by automobiles. (corrected) This is the only cookie in a bag that tastes like Mom’s.(Misplaced prepositional phrase) This is the only cookie that tastes like Mom’s in a bag. (corrected)

Misplaced Modifiers An adjective clause is a group of words that acts like an adjective. An adjective clause may or may not contain an adjective. Students wanting an “A” should do extra credit. In this example, wanting an “A” is an adjective clause despite that none of the words in the clause are adjectives. It limits or modifies the word “students” because without it the sentence’s meaning would change.

Misplaced Modifiers It is important that the adjective clause immediately follow the noun it modifies, otherwise the sentence will not make sense. Students should do extra credit wanting an “A.” Now it sounds like the extra credit wants an “A” which is ridiculous.

Misplaced Modifiers An adverb clause is similar to an adjective clause, except that an adverb clause modifies verbs or adverbs instead of nouns. An adverb clause does not need to contain an adverb, but the whole clause modifies a verb or adverb. Spock drank as if he were thirsty. “As if he were thirsty” is an adverb clause modifying how Spock drank.

Misplaced Modifiers Adverb clauses may be placed anywhere in the sentence as long as their relationship to the headword is clear. Spock, as if he were thirsty, drank Pepsi. (before the verb) As if he were thirsty, Spock drank Pepsi. (introductory element) Spock drank a Pepsi as if he were thirsty. (separated from the verb by a noun)

Misplaced Modifiers An intrusive modifier interrupts the flow of a sentence from its subject to its verb. It is best to try and keep the subject and verb as close together as possible to avoid ambiguity. Spock with lust in his eyes and a dream in his heart to fulfill his desire and obtain his obsession drank a Pepsi. With this sentence by the time the reader gets to the verb, she has forgotten about the subject.

Misplaced Modifiers The sentence becomes stronger if the subject and the verb are placed together. Spock drank a Pepsi with lust in his eyes and a dream in his heart to fulfill his desire and obtain his obsession. Now the prepositional phrases don’t weaken the subject and verb.

Misplaced Modifiers Another type of intrusive modifier is the split infinitive. An infinitive phrase is the word “to” plus a verb, such as “to go.” When an adverb is injected between the infinitive and its verb, this is called a split infinitive. In a Latinized language such as Spanish or French, it is grammatically impossible to split an infinitive; however, in English a split infinitive may sometimes be natural and even preferable though it may bother some readers.

Misplaced Modifiers An example of an infinitive would be “to go.” An example of a split infinitive would be “to boldly go.” The adverb “boldly” is between the infinitive “to” and its verb “go.” An English purist would say “to go boldly.” The rule that makes it a sin to split an infinitive is borrowed from Latin, and English is a Germanic language; hence, the rule doesn’t really apply. So writers may split infinitives as long as they don’t split them so much that the reader gets confused. “To boldly with great pomp and circumstance go.”

Misplaced Modifiers A verb phrase consists of a helping verb and a main verb, such as “have been using.” Writers routinely insert adverbs after the helping verb such as “have recently been using.” Inserting an adverb inside the verb phrase is acceptable as long as the adverb is concise. A long adverb or an adverb phrase makes the sentence awkward, for example: “I have on a regular basis been using PowerPoint.” It is better to say “I have been using PowerPoint on a regular basis.” or “I have routinely been using PowerPoint.”

Misplaced Modifiers A dangling modifier is a modifier that does not logically modify anything in the sentence. A dangling modifier is usually created because the sentence lacks a subject. For example, “When in diapers, my mother remarried.” is a dangling modifier. The sentence implies that the mother wore diapers to her second wedding because the first clause has no subject to attach the modifier to, so the reader attaches it to the only subject available “mother.”

Misplaced Modifiers The best way to correct a dangling modifier is to provide the missing subject. “When [I was] in diapers, my mother remarried.” Now the modifier “in diapers” has a subject to modify. Another way to correct a dangling modifier is to change the subject of the sentence. “When in diapers, I attended my mother’s second wedding.” This changes the dangling modifier into a dependent clause.

Misplaced Modifiers The best way to avoid misplacing modifiers is to avoid using them; however, when modifiers are used place them as closely to the headword as possible. To prevent dangling modifiers, proofread to be certain that each modifier has a corresponding headword. It may seem that modifiers are monsters to be feared.

Misplaced Modifiers Doing battle with misplaced modifiers requires careful proofreading and a little grammatical skill,

Misplaced Modifiers but with a little practice, the monster can be tamed. The End

Misplaced Modifiers