My English teacher taught me about misplaced modifiers in high school.
I figured everyone else received the same education, but apparently not.
Because I’m constantly running across misplaced modifiers. Mostly, I see them in self-published books that have not been properly edited. But I also see them in blog posts. I even hear them on television commercials!
I guess this must be one of my pet peeves as every time I run across one, it drives me nuts.
Dear writer, please carefully edit your work to be sure there are no misplaced modifiers in it. Particularly in your books—they can instantly mark you as an amateur.
What is a Misplaced Modifier?
First, we need to define what “modifiers” are.
These are words, phrases, or clauses that describe other words, phrases, or clauses. Typically, they’re adjectives or adverbs, but keep in mind that they can also be prepositional phrases.
In proper English language, the modifier should appear right next to the word or phrase that it’s modifying. That means it comes right before or right after it.
If your modifier is separated from the word or phrase it’s modifying, the sentence will become—at best—unclear. At worst, it will be humorous.
When that happens, you’ve got a misplaced modifier on your hands. That’s a grammatical mistake. And you must correct it right away unless you mean to use it to inspire humor.
Like Groucho Marx, who is quoted as saying, “One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas, I don’t know.”
In that sentence, “in my pajamas” is the modifier. Since the writer placed it nearest “elephant,” it appears to be modifying the noun elephant. Ergo, the humor.
But most likely, the misplaced modifiers in your prose aren’t meant to be misplaced. So let’s look at some more examples to be sure you know what we’re talking about.
Examples of Misplaced Modifiers
Start playing around with misplaced modifiers and you can have a lot of fun.
How about:
Tom napped his new baby son, tired after a long day’s work.
Wow, that’s one advanced baby if it’s working a full-time job already.
The problem is that the writer has placed the phrase, “tired after a long day’s work” right after “baby son.” She likely meant to say that Tom was tired. Correct it by moving the modifier:
Tired after a long day’s work, Tom napped with his new baby son.
Let’s look at another example:
Happy to be released from the hospital, the restaurant was relaxing for Sherry.
I’ve never heard of a restaurant being in the hospital, but hey, what do I know?
Presumably, the writer meant that Sherry was released from the hospital:
Happy to be released from the hospital, Sherry found the restaurant relaxing.
Here’s another just for fun:
On her way home, Tara found a ruby man’s ring.
A ruby man? Is there such a thing? Of course not. But in this sentence, there seems to be. Let’s fix it:
On her way home, Tara found a man’s ruby ring.
The smallest change can make a huge difference.
Here’s one more:
Ginger rode her horse in blue boots.
The horse had blue boots? That I’d like to see! But the writer probably meant:
Ginger wore her blue boots while riding her horse.
Once you get used to spotting misplaced modifiers, beware—you’re likely to see them all over the place. This grammatical error seems to be particularly pervasive right now. Or it could be that I spot them because I hate them!
A Few More Examples of Misplaced Modifiers
If you’re still not sure you’ve got it, here are a few more examples of misplaced modifiers. See if you can spot the humor in each incorrect one.
Incorrect: The waiter presented the steak to the customer that was well done.
Correct: The waiter presented the well-done steak to the customer.
Incorrect: My aunt had to see a doctor with heart palpitations.
Correct: My aunt with heart palpitations had to see a doctor.
Incorrect: She saw a stray cat on the way to the store.
Correct: On the way to the store, she saw a stray cat.
What’s the Difference Between a Misplaced Modifier and a Dangling Modifier?
There is another modifier problem that attacks many writers’ works called the “dangling modifier.”
Again, the problem is with the word or words used to modify something. But this time, instead of being misplaced somewhere in the sentence, they are not in the sentence at all!
When there is nothing there for the modifier to modify, the modifier is said to “dangle” out there all by its lonesome.
Let’s look at some examples:
Walking home at night, the buildings looked dark and ominous.
This makes it sound like the buildings were walking. Impossible unless you’re writing a science fiction or fantasy story. Most likely, you meant that the buildings looked dark and ominous to whatever person you are talking about, but you left that person out.
The correct version might read:
Walking home at night, Christy thought the buildings looked dark and ominous.
Here’s another one:
Riding on the train, the corn fields whizzed by quickly.
Someone is watching those corn fields, but he didn’t make an appearance in the sentence, so the modifier “riding on the train” is dangling, which makes it seem like the corn fields are riding instead. Let’s fix it:
Riding on the train, John watched the cornfields whiz by quickly.
One more:
After years of sitting in the dark, cold basement, I found my old Luke Skywalker action figure and gave it to my grandson.
Did the speaker sit for years in the dark, cold basement? Hopefully not, but that might make a fun story if his only company was the Luke Skywalker action figure.
If we fix it to reflect the most likely meaning, it should read:
I found my old Luke Skywalker action figure—which had been sitting for years in the dark, cold basement—and gave it to my grandson.
Or:
After years of sitting in the dark, cold basement, my old Luke Skywalker action figure made the perfect gift for my grandson.
Check Your Writing Carefully for Misplaced Modifiers
The more you read the examples, the better you’ll become at spotting misplaced and dangling modifiers. Search for them in your work when you’re in the editing process, then keep your eyes and ears open.
No doubt you’ll start noticing them everywhere! But at least they won’t be in your stories.