* Fix the
misplaced modifier: Spell check will check ONLY what comes after ...
A
misplaced modifier is so far away from the word it describes that the reader may be confused.
Will an arrow drawn from a
misplaced modifier and pointing to its proper place in a sentence hurt a student?
"The Curious Case of the
Misplaced Modifier: How to Solve the Mysteries of Weak Writing" looks at all the causes of bad writing and how to repair them and revise them.
A dangling or
misplaced modifier is a group of words that don't connect with what they modify, either because a word or words are left out, or because they are too far from what they modify:
He explains non sequitur as well as
misplaced modifier. He asks the reader to "imagine Jesse Jackson, Jesse Helms, and Jesse Ventura each writing a history of the Clinton presidency" to emphasize his point that all writing in the humanities is subjective.
For instance, to the comment, "I only received the letters yesterday," the wise guy responds, "You didn't open them?" Although this
misplaced modifier doesn't impede spoken communication, it does reveal how, because English has relatively little of the grammatical glue enjoyed by other languages, we must pay close attention to the role of syntax in written communication.
take a multiple-choice quiz to see if you really know a
misplaced modifier from a dangling participle.
In the Bradley reference, for example, the
misplaced modifier - "that affected his ability to move the right side of his body" - was a subordinate clause.
A
misplaced modifier is too far away from the word it describes, and the reader may be confused.
Americans may sometimes find the prose a bit daunting, the occasional Anglicism,
misplaced modifier, and passive voice requiring a thorough rereading.
(Modifiers) Place a modifier as close as possible to the word being modified to avoid a
misplaced modifier.