Transcript Center for Academic Excellence SmartSlides Dangling, Misplaced, and Squinting Modifiers What You Never Meant to Say, But Did Anyway Giant Book Sale! For the writer, one.

Center for Academic Excellence
SmartSlides
Dangling, Misplaced, and Squinting
Modifiers
What You Never Meant to Say, But Did Anyway
Giant Book Sale!
For the writer, one challenge is to express ideas
precisely. There are many instances where the
writer knows what is meant but fails to see what
others might understand the meaning to be.
Misplaced modifiers (the normal garden variety,
along with their dangling and squinting cousins) are
a case in point.
General Definition: A misplaced modifier (MM) is a descriptive word,
phrase, or clause that renders a sentence ambiguous, because the
modifier could be applied to various words in the sentence. Consider the
following, for example:
We manufacture inflatable children’s play equipment.
In this case the sentence is ambiguous. It could mean either of
the following:
We manufacture inflatable children’s play equipment.
We manufacture inflatable children’s play equipment.
This is easily corrected by moving the adjective, or by rewording
the sentence:
We manufacture children’s inflatable play equipment.
We manufacture inflatable play equipment for children.
Definition: A dangling modifier (DM) is a word, clause, or phrase that
has no clear subject, and so it seems to be attached to a word (or words)
in another clause or phrase. This error frequently occurs with phrases
starting with –ing words:
Walking through the park, the grass tickled my feet.
“Walking through the park” has no subject. Because the next noun is
“the grass,” it seems as though “grass” must be the subject, i.e.
While the grass was walking through the park it tickled my feet.
The words “my feet” could also be the subject, i.e.
While my feet were walking through the park the grass tickled them.
Neither meaning makes a whole lot of sense. Correct the problem by
supplying the missing subject:
When I was walking through the park, the grass tickled my feet.
Definition: A squinting modifier (SM) is a word, phrase, or clause that
could modify words to either side. It looks in two directions at once.
Example:
Children who miss school frequently become drop-outs.
Children who miss school frequently become drop-outs.
It is not clear which verb “frequently” applies to. The sentence could
mean either one of the following:
Children who miss school frequently become drop-outs.
Children who miss school frequently become drop-outs.
These emphases in meaning are very different. Correct the problem by
revising the wording of the sentence.
Children who frequently miss school become drop-outs.
Frequently, children who miss school become droputs.
Determine whether the sentences which follow are mere garden variety
misplaced modifiers, or whether they are dangling or squinting modifiers.
Read the sentences, then write either MM, DM, or SM, as the case
requires. If there is no error, write “None.”
Examples:
1. The jacket was just too small in the store.
MM
2. Instructors who cancel classes rarely are reprimanded.
SM
3. While driving on Coliseum Boulevard, lightning struck a tree.
DM
4. I bought myself a drink at McDonald’s.
None
1. A small book sat on the desk that Sarah had read.
MM
2. The professor posted the notes for the students covered in
class.
MM
3. An old woman ambled slowly across the hall.
None
4. Changing the oil every 3, 000 miles, the car seemed to run
better.
MM
5. Students who seek their instructors’ advice often can improve SM
their grades.
6. I like to listen to rock music doing my homework.
MM
7. Swinging wildly through the trees, the children were
delighted by the monkeys.
DM
8. The young girl was walking the dog in a short skirt.
MM
9. The dog was chasing the boy with the spiked collar.
MM
10. While talking on the phone the doorbell rang.
DM
11. Running across the floor, the rug slipped and I lost my
balance.
DM
12. He was staring at the girl by the vending machine wearing
dark glasses.
MM
13. I heard that there was a revolution on the evening news.
MM
14. Whistling cheerfully, he wandered across the lawn.
None
15. Traffic sign: Slow Children Playing
MM
16. They manufacture large-bottomed patient commodes.
MM
17. I was told that I had been awarded the scholarship by my
professor.
MM
18. Walking to school on a subzero morning, my left ear
became frozen.
DM
19. The old woman had grey hair with blue eyes.
MM
20. I heard that he married a woman with a vast fortune in a
small church in Italy.
MM
21. Defining your terms clearly strengthens your argument.
SM
22. The robber was a tall man with a black moustache
weighing 150 pounds.
MM
23. Though only sixteen, Ivy Tech accepted Maria’s
application.
DM
24. When watching films, commercials are especially irritating.
DM
25. Putting the leash on, the dog bit John.
DM
26. The cat in the alley looked at me with a rat trapped under
one claw.
MM
27. Let me know if we should meet in the park near the zoo or
the cafe.
MM
28. My sister dropped in while I was scrubbing the floor with
her new baby.
MM
29. I searched for a mechanic who would repair my car without
success.
MM
30. Cost-efficient and convenient, many of today's corporate
employees are being trained through computer-assisted
instruction.
DM
PowerPoint Presentation by Mark A. Spalding, BA, MEd, MA (2008).
The End
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