Misplaced Modifiers

Identification and Removal

By
Alfred Taylor
 Misplaced Modifiers
The best advice I can give students about modifiers is
to use them sparingly. Too many modifiers have the
tendency to weaken a piece of writing. They often
become crutches for writers preventing them from
finding stronger nouns and verbs. Which sentence is
stronger?
“The small tan toy dog with a high pitched bark
walked lazily.”
“The yapping Chihuahua loped.”
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The second sentence is stronger because it creates a
clearer word picture in the reader’s mind. A small tan
toy dog could be any type of dog from an
Affenpinscher to a Yorkshire Terrier, but using its
proper name instead of an adjective phrase creates a
specific image in the mind of the reader.

“When you find an adjective, kill it,” Mark Twain.

 Misplaced Modifiers
A modifier is a word or phrase that adds meaning to
or limits another word. For example: “The grey
werewolf wearing a blue shirt is softly walking.” In
the example the adjective “grey” is modifying the
noun “werewolf.” And the adjective “blue” is
modifying the noun “shirt.” The adverb “softly” is
modifying the present participle “walking.”
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The headword is the word or phrase being modified.
In the sentence, “The lonely werewolf howled at the
Moon.” “Werewolf” is the headword because it is
being modified by the adjective “lonely.”
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A misplaced modifier is a modifier that misses its
intended target. The position of the modifier in the
sentence causes it to modify the wrong word or to not
modify any word at all.
“Growling and snapping the lady was stalked by the
werewolf.” Was the lady growling and snapping?
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“Growling and snapping the lady was stalked by the
werewolf.” In this example, the word “lady” appears
to be the headword for the adjectives “Growling and
Snapping”; however, this makes no logical sense, so
the modifiers must be misplaced.
“The lady was stalked by the growling and snapping
werewolf.” Now “growling and snapping modify the
correct headword, “werewolf.”
Place the modifier as close to the
headword as possible.
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Writers must use limiting modifiers carefully.
Limiting modifiers are words that change the
sentence’s meaning depending upon where they are
placed. They are words such as: only, not only, just,
not just, almost, hardly, nearly, even, exactly, merely,
scarcely, and simply.
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Just Spock drank a Pepsi.
Spock was the only one drinking Pepsi.
Spock just drank a Pepsi.
Spock recently drank a Pepsi.
Spock drank just a Pepsi.
One Pepsi was the only thing Spock drank.

Each time the limiting modifier “just” was moved the

meaning of the sentence changed.
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Squinting modifiers are modifiers that may modify
more than one word or phrase in a sentence.
“She said on Sunday she would call.”
Did she say it on Sunday?
Or is she going to call on Sunday?
We don’t know. The phrase “on Sunday” could
modify “said” or it could modify “would call.”
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The squinting modifier is unclear because it is
between two nouns, and it could logically modify
both of them. To correct a squinting modifier move
the modifier closer to the intended headword.
She said on Sunday she would call. (squinting modifier)
On Sunday she said she would call. (corrected)
She said she would call on Sunday. (corrected)
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Sometimes a phrase is used as a modifier. Verbal
phrases and prepositional phrases may also act as
modifiers. When these phrases are misplaced, the
results are at best confusing, at worst humorous.
Many cats are killed by automobiles roaming
unleashed. “Roaming unleashed” is a misplaced
verbal phrase. (Automobiles don’t roam.)
This is the only cookie in a bag that tastes like
Mom’s. “In a bag” is a misplaced prepositional
phrase. (The bag doesn’t taste like Mom’s bag.)
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Correct these misplaced modifiers by moving them as
close to the headword as possible.
Many cats are killed by automobiles roaming
unleashed. (Misplaced verbal phrase)
Many cats roaming unleashed are killed by
automobiles. (corrected)
This is the only cookie in a bag that tastes like
Mom’s. (Misplaced prepositional phrase)
This is the only cookie that tastes like Mom’s in a
bag. (corrected)
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An adjective clause is a group of words that acts like
an adjective. An adjective clause may or may not
contain an adjective.
Students wanting an “A” should do extra credit.
In this example, wanting an “A” is an adjective clause
despite that none of the words in the clause are
adjectives. It limits or modifies the word “students”
because without it the sentence’s meaning would
change.
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It is important that the adjective clause immediately
follow the noun it modifies, otherwise the sentence
will not make sense.
Students should do extra credit wanting an “A.”
Now it sounds like the extra credit wants an “A”
which is ridiculous.
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An adverb clause is similar to an adjective clause,
except that an adverb clause modifies verbs or
adverbs instead of nouns. An adverb clause does not
need to contain an adverb, but the whole clause
modifies a verb or adverb.
Spock drank as if he were thirsty.
“As if he were thirsty” is an adverb clause modifying
how Spock drank.
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Adverb clauses may be placed anywhere in the
sentence as long as their relationship to the headword
is clear.
Spock, as if he were thirsty, drank Pepsi.
(before the verb)

As if he were thirsty, Spock drank Pepsi.

(introductory element)

Spock drank a Pepsi as if he were thirsty.

(separated from the verb by a noun)
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An intrusive modifier interrupts the flow of a
sentence from its subject to its verb. It is best to try
and keep the subject and verb as close together as
possible to avoid ambiguity.
Spock with lust in his eyes and a dream in his heart to
fulfill his desire and obtain his obsession drank a
Pepsi.
With this sentence by the time the reader gets to the
verb, she has forgotten about the subject.
 Misplaced Modifiers
The sentence becomes stronger if the subject and the
verb are placed together.
Spock drank a Pepsi with lust in his eyes and a
dream in his heart to fulfill his desire and obtain his
obsession.
Now the prepositional phrases don’t weaken the
subject and verb.
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Another type of intrusive modifier is the split
infinitive. An infinitive phrase is the word “to” plus a
verb, such as “to go.” When an adverb is injected
between the infinitive and its verb, this is called a
split infinitive. In a Latinized language such as
Spanish or French, it is grammatically impossible to
split an infinitive; however, in English a split
infinitive may sometimes be natural and even
preferable though it may bother some readers.
 Misplaced Modifiers
An example of an infinitive would be “to go.”
An example of a split infinitive would be “to boldly go.”
The adverb “boldly” is between the infinitive “to” and
its verb “go.” An English purist would say “to go
boldly.” The rule that makes it a sin to split an infinitive
is borrowed from Latin, and English is a Germanic
language; hence, the rule doesn’t really apply. So
writers may split infinitives as long as they don’t split
them so much that the reader gets confused.
“To boldly with great pomp and circumstance go.”
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A verb phrase consists of a helping verb and a main
verb, such as “have been using.” Writers routinely
insert adverbs after the helping verb such as “have
recently been using.” Inserting an adverb inside the
verb phrase is acceptable as long as the adverb is
concise. A long adverb or an adverb phrase makes
the sentence awkward, for example: “I have on a
regular basis been using PowerPoint.” It is better to
say “I have been using PowerPoint on a regular
basis.” or “I have routinely been using PowerPoint.”
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A dangling modifier is a modifier that does not
logically modify anything in the sentence. A
dangling modifier is usually created because the
sentence lacks a subject. For example, “When in
diapers, my mother remarried.” is a dangling
modifier. The sentence implies that the mother wore
diapers to her second wedding because the first clause
has no subject to attach the modifier to, so the reader
attaches it to the only subject available “mother.”
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The best way to correct a dangling modifier is to
provide the missing subject. “When [I was] in
diapers, my mother remarried.” Now the modifier “in
diapers” has a subject to modify. Another way to
correct a dangling modifier is to change the subject of
the sentence. “When in diapers, I attended my
mother’s second wedding.” This
changes the dangling modifier into a
dependent clause.
 Misplaced Modifiers
The best way to avoid misplacing modifiers is to
avoid using them; however, when modifiers are used
place them as closely to the headword as possible. To
prevent dangling modifiers, proofread to be certain
that each modifier has a corresponding headword.

It may seem that modifiers

are monsters to be feared.
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Doing battle with misplaced modifiers requires
careful proofreading and a little grammatical skill,
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but with a little practice, the monster can be tamed.

The End