We see dangling and misplaced modifiers quite a lot in novels. Read on to discover how to recognize and fix dangling and misplaced modifiers.
Dangling Modifiers
A dangling modifier happens when you put a descriptive phrase next to a word that it doesn’t describe. This usage is incorrect because modifiers should be next to the word they describe, and doing otherwise causes people to misread the sentence.
Correct: She ran as fast as she could, the cape flapping in the wind behind her.
Correct: The cape flapped in the wind behind her as she ran as fast as she could.
Incorrect: Running as fast as she could, the cape flapped in the wind behind her.
The cape is not running, so “running as fast as she could” is a dangling modifier. It is dangling at the beginning of the sentence without the noun it’s modifying.
Fixing a dangling modifier does require slightly rewriting the sentence, but doing so is generally easy.
Misplaced Modifiers
A misplaced modifier happens when you put a single-word modifier next to a word it doesn’t modify.
Correct: I slowly ate the bowl of cold cereal.
Incorrect: I slowly ate the cold bowl of cereal. (Unless you stuck the bowl in the fridge and want to point out that the bowl itself is cold.)
Putting a modifier in the wrong place can completely change the meaning of a sentence.
Examples:
I stared only at the clown. (You stared at the clown and nothing else.)
I only stared at the clown. (You stared at the clown but didn’t do anything else to him, such as chase him, hug him, etc.)
A misplaced modifier is fixed by simply moving the modifier to be next to the word it’s modifying.
Originally published at https://mybookcave.com on May 7, 2019.
