Avoiding Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers

1. Avoiding Danglingand Misplaced Modifiers

2. Modifier: tells what student you are talking about. Definition: Modifier • Modifier: a word, phrase, or clause that provides information about another word in the sentence • The student sitting in the front row is asleep.

3. Definition: Present Participle Modifier • Present participle: the -ing form of a verb Walking quickly into the room, the teacher started her lecture. Present participle modifier

4. Definition: Past Participle Modifier • Past Participle: the past tense form of a verb (often ending in -d or -ed) Frightened by the doctor, the baby began screaming. Past participle modifier

5. ? First Rule for Modifiers • Be sure that the modifier points to a word in the sentence. Don’t let your modifier “dangle.” • Working hard, my test scores improved quickly. • Working hard, Iimproved my test scores quickly. NO YES

6. Second Rule for Modifiers • Keep your modifiers as close as possible to the words they are describing. • I caught an elephant in my pajamas. (How he got in my pajamas I’ll never know!) • In my pajamas, I caught an elephant.

7. Try a couple! • Written at the last minute, I got only a C- on my essay. • Written at the last minute, my essay got only a C-. • I gave the computer to a friend that was always breaking down. • I gave the computer that was always breaking down to a friend.

8. To review dangling and misplaced modifiers, see Chapter 18.