A modifier is a word or phrase that describes something. It should sit next to the word it describes. “I saw a dog on the way to school with three legs” sounds as if the school has three legs. Better: “On the way to school, I saw a dog with three legs.”
A dangling modifier has nothing sensible to attach to: “Walking to school, the rain started.” The rain was not walking. Fix it by adding the right subject: “Walking to school, I felt the rain start.”
Check every opening -ing phrase: the subject right after the comma must be the one doing the action.
Worked example
Fix: “Having eaten lunch, the bus left without us.”
- Who had eaten lunch? We had.
- Put we straight after the comma.
Answer:Having eaten lunch, we found that the bus had left without us.
Key words
- modifier
- a word or phrase that describes
- misplaced modifier
- a modifier in the wrong position
- dangling modifier
- a modifier with no sensible word to describe
Practise this
New questions every time.
Common Core-referenced: L.7.1c