Misplaced Modifiers

LEARN TO SPOT MODIFIERS

describe or reveal something about other words. Modifiers act as or . Adjectives

describe and . Adverbs describe , , and other adverbs.

adjective noun
An honest politician is a treasure.

[Honest describes politician.]

adjective noun
Towering above the city, the cathedral shimmered in the sunlight.

[Towering above the city describes cathedral.]

verb adverb
Questioned by the police, the suspect responded nervously.

[Nervously explains how the suspect responded.]

Adverb verb adjective noun

Before he entered the navy, my father worked as an automotive engineer.

[Before he entered the navy tells when father worked; automotive describes engineer.]

CORRECT MISPLACED MODIFIERS

Place the modifier as close to the word it describes as you can. If you don’t, your reader
may have difficulty telling which word in the sentence you want to modify.

Misplaced: When only a boy, Joe’s aunt took him to the rodeo.
Revised: Joe’s aunt took him to the rodeo when he was only a boy.

The first sentence actually describes Joe’s aunt as a boy.

AVOID CONFUSING MODIFIERS

Modifiers cause confusion when they refer to words that come before and after them at
the same time.

Confusing: She claimed Friday she saw a UFO. [Did the UFO appear on Friday, or
was Friday when she claimed to have seen it?]
Revised: Friday, she claimed she saw a UFO. [Friday is when she made the claim.]
OR
Revised: She claimed she saw a UFO Friday. [Friday is when she saw it.]
Placing the Words Only, Even, and Just

Where you place the words only and just in a sentence can change the meaning of a
sentence.

1. Sam only worked in Phoenix for three years.

2. Sam worked only in Phoenix for three years.
3. Sam worked in Phoenix for only three years.

NOTE: These three sentences are correct, but they mean different things.

Place the modifier as close as you can to the word it describes.

1. Sam only worked in Phoenix for three years.

Only modifies worked, a verb. The sentence means “Sam did nothing but work in
Phoenix for three years.”

2. Sam worked only in Phoenix for three years.

Only modifies in Phoenix. The sentence means “Sam worked nowhere but in Phoenix
for three years.”

3. Sam worked in Phoenix for only three years.

Only modifies three. The sentence means “Sam worked in Phoenix no more than three
years.”

CORRECT DANGLING MODIFIERS

Modifiers must point clearly to the words they describe. Otherwise, sentences may
seem illogical. This happens if you forget to mention the word a modifier is suppose to
describe. In such cases, the modifier is said to “dangle”; it has nothing to hang on to.
Say you wrote

Dangling: Walking across the field, the river came into view.

Your reader would surely know that you – not the river – were walking. But that’s not
what the sentence says. To correct dangling modifiers, add the word(s) you forgot. To
do so, however, you might have to rewrite the sentence.

Revised: Walking across the field, I saw the river.

Now, Walking across the field clearly points to the pronoun I.

Working with It Is and It was Construction

You might create a dangling modifier if you follow a modifier with a main clause who
subject is It and whose verb is was or another form of to be.

Dangling: Concerned about the rain, it was decided that the picnic should be
canceled.

[Concerned about the rain has nothing to modify except the word it, which refers to no
word in the sentence.]

Revised: Concerned about the rain, our club decided to call of the picnic.

[Now, Concerned about the rain clearly refers to club, a subject the reader can identify.]

MAINTAIN PARALLELISM

A sentence may contain a series of words, , or . To make it , be consistent within the

series: use with nouns, with verbs, clauses with subordinate clauses, and so on.

Not Parallel: He bought a tie, a shirt, and purchased a scarf.

Parallel: He bought a tie, a shirt, and a scarf.

The first sentence contains a series that is not consistent. The first two items are nouns,
but the third – purchased a scarf – contains a verb. In the second sentence, all three
items – tie, shirt, and scarf – are nouns.

USING PARALLELISM TO CREATE COMPARISONS AND CONTRASTS

Always compare like things; otherwise, your sentence won’t be parallel.

Not parallel: The mountains of the West are younger than the East.

[This sentence compares things that are not alike: the mountains and the East.]

You can’t correct this problem in two ways:

Parallel: The mountains of the West are younger than the mountains of the
East.
Parallel: The mountains of the West are younger than those of the East.

CREATING PARALLELISM WITH CORRELATIVES

Some pairs of words can help make sentences parallel. These are correlatives: either
… or, neither ... nor, and not only … but also.

When you use these pairs, remember to join the same kinds of elements.
Not Parallel: In December, the weather is either cool, or we get a warming trend
with rain.
Parallel: In December, the weather is either cool or warm and rainy.

NOTE: In the first sentence, either introduces an adjective – cool – but or

introduces a clause – we get a warming trend with rain. In the second
sentence, or also introduces adjectives – warm and rainy.

USING THAT TO CREATE PARALLELISM

You can use the relative pronoun that to introduce a subordinate clause. But be
consistent if you use more than one subordinate clause. Make sure each is introduced
the same way.

Not Parallel: I knew that I wouldn’t get there and my friends would be worried.
Parallel: I knew that I wouldn’t get there and that my friends would be
worried.

NOTE: In the first example, one subordinate clause is introduced by that; the
other isn’t. In the second example, both subordinate clauses are
introduced by that; the sentence is parallel.

AVOID ILLOGICAL VERB TENSE SHIFTS

The of a verb is the time a verb expresses. If not done logically, shifting from one tense
to another in the same sentence can cause problems. The following sentence uses both
the present tense (drives) and the past tense (took) to express things happening at
different times. Therefore, in this case shifting from present tense to past tense is
logical.

present past
Usually he drives to work, but yesterday he took the bus.

Shifting verb tenses logically can serve a purpose; to show actions occurring at different
times. But shifting verb tenses illogically – without a good reason – can make a
sentence hard to read and understand.

past present
Illogical shift: Whenever visitors approached, our dogs barks loudly.

Approached is in the past tense; barks is in the present. But the logic of the sentence
demands that both verbs be in the same tense. After all, the sentence begins with
Whenever, so the dog must be barking at the same time the visitors approach.

Here are the two correct versions:

All present: Whenever visitors approach, our dogs barks loudly.

All past: Whenever visitors approached, our dog barked loudly.

AVOID ILLOGICAL VOICE SHIFTS

Verbs take various tenses. They also come in active voice or passive voice. A verb in
the active voice takes a subject – person, place, or thing – that does an action. A verb in
the passive voice takes a subject that is acted upon.

Active: The students admire the teacher.

Passive: The teacher is admired by the students.

NOTE: Verbs in the passive voice always contain at least two words: a
form of the verb to be (is) and the participle (admired).

CAUTION: Shifting from one voice to another in the same sentence often makes the
sentence hard to read. Shifting the voice also makes your messages less
direct and emphatic.

Inconsistent: Beautiful birds were seen as she entered the garden.

Consistent: She saw beautiful birds as she entered the garden.

The first example begins in the passive voice and then shifts to the active. In the second
example, both verbs are in the active voice.

Sample Quiz questions:

1. Choose the item that has no misplaced modifiers.

a. In the summer of 2006, Donna, a graduate of my high school, made a film
about hurricanes.
b. Donna, a graduate of my high school, made in the summer of 2006 a film
about hurricanes.
c. Donna, a graduate of my high school, made a film about hurricanes in the
summer of 2006.

Answer: a. In the summer of 2006, Donna, a graduate of my high school, made a film
about hurricanes.

2. Choose the item that has no misplaced modifiers.

a. Bought by his wife, he found it hard to program the DVD player.
b. His DVD player, which his wife had bought him, proved hard to program.
c. His DVD player proved hard to program, which his wife had bought him.

Answer: b. His DVD player, which his wife had bought him, proved hard to program.