Lesson 9: Misplaced Modifiers

Modifiers must be placed as close to the word(s) they modify as possible.

Problem 1: Placement of modifiers

Example of error: The trees trimmed in the shapes of animals that line the walks delight visitors.

In this example, the underlined adjective clause is misplaced. It modifies trees and should be placed after trees. Revised example: The trees that line the walks and that are trimmed in the shapes of animals delight visitors.

How to find misplaced modifiers?

Identify all modifiers. Draw a line from the modifier to the word that it modifies. If the modifier is too far away from the word that it modifies, revise it.

Problem 2: Limiting modifiers

Be careful with the placement of limiting modifiers, such as almost, even, hardly, just, merely, nearly, only, scarcely, and simply. These modifiers should be placed right before the words they limit.
Example:

Ambiguous The court only hears civil cases on Tuesdays.
Clear The court hears only civil cases on Tuesdays.
Clear but another meaning The court hears civil case on Tuesdays only.

Notice the different meaning of this sentence when the word only is moved.

How to find limiting modifiers?

Simply look for the specific words listed above and see if they are properly placed.

Problem 3: Disruptive modifiers

Be careful that modifiers that are long do not separate main parts of the sentence, such as the subject and the verb.

Example: The books because the librarians had decided they were no longer useful were discarded.
The underlined dependent clause disrupts the subject books and the verb

Revision: The books were discarded because the librarians had decided they were no longer useful.

Another type of disruptive modifier occurs in the use of infinitives.

Example of error: I hope to almost equal my last year's income.
The underlined words are the infinitive to equal. To equal cannot be separated. Therefore, almost must be moved to before or after the infinitive.

Revision: I hope almost to equal my last year's income.
I hope that I will earn almost as much as I did last year.

Sometimes the sentence may sound awkward and need more revision as in the second sentence above.

Problem 4: Dangling modifiers

Dangling modifiers are words that modify nothing in particular in the rest of a sentence. Often what they seem to modify is suggest or implied but not actually in the sentence.

Example of error: Driving nonstop, Shalishan Lodge is two hours from Portland.

Who is driving? Revision: If one is driving nonstop, Shalishan Lodge is two hours from Portland.

Another example of error: The students were studying in the library, referring to library sources. This is the type of error that I see often in students' papers. The underlined is considered a dangling modifier because it has no purpose in the sentence because of its location. Revision: The students were studying in the library and were referring to library sources. As you can see, the underlined words were really a second verb in the sentence and should have been written as a second verb.

How to find dangling modifiers?

They frequently appear at the beginning or ends of sentence. The ones that I personally see usually are at the ends of sentence and are usually ing words with a comma in front of the ing word. If the dangling modifier is the type that lacks a person in the sentence to do the action, add the person. If the dangling modifier is the second type that should have been the second verb, make it the second verb using a coordinating conjunction.