Hello, good morning, greetings!
Last week I covered misplaced modifiers (descriptive words or phrases that are misplaced in a sentence so that they cause ambiguity), and as promised, this time we’re looking at dangling modifiers. A dangling modifier is a word or phrase that has nothing to modify. It’s just dangling, unattached to anything else in the sentence. Typically, these sentences are missing a subject (the person or thing doing the action). I know, I know. We need examples!
- Walking through the park, the squirrels were chattering.
The phrase “walking through the park” is a dangling modifier. It’s not modifying anything. Who is walking through the park? Here is one way you could rewrite the sentence:
Walking through the park, Darius heard the squirrels chattering.
- Waiting in line, the time went by slowly.
Who is waiting in line? For whom is time going by slowly? Here’s a possible revision:
While Merced was waiting in line, the time went by slowly.
- While driving to the park, my dog stuck his head out of the window.
I think you’ve got this figured out. We’re missing the subject—the person driving the car.
While I was driving to the park, my dog stuck his head out of the window.
The takeaway is to make sure that your sentences have a clear subject. Don’t leave us dangling.
Donna Bradley Burcher |Technical Editor, Advisory | jack henry™
Pronouns she/her/hers
9660 Granite Ridge Drive, San Diego CA 92123
Symitar Documentation Services
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