Misplaced Modifiers

How to Fix “Misplaced Modifiers” in Your Writing

Misplaced Modifiers

Introduction

Even the most polished publications are not immune to that dreaded mistake committed frequently in English — the “misplaced modifiers.”

Misplaced Modifiers are words that do not logically modify the word or phrase that they should be describing.

They are modifying words that should be placed in a different sentence.

Misplaced modifiers can come in several forms. Some misplace the modifier within the sentence, some place it at the end of the sentence, and others place it before the word they are meant to modify. These misplaced modifiers can make sentences confusing or unclear, which is why it’s best to avoid them altogether.

How to Detect a Misplaced Modifier

There are many ways that you can recognize a misplaced modifier if you know what to look for. One of these is if you see an adverb modifying a noun instead of an adjective, or vice versa.

Another sign would be if you see an adjective modifying itself or another adjective instead of a noun, or vice versa.

An Example

“The robber was chased by the cops who killed the shopkeeper.” 

Here the sentence reads as if it’s the cop who killed the shopkeeper.

The correct way to write it is as follows:

“The robber who killed the shopkeeper was chased by the cops.” 

Another Example

Here is a current example from the august Wall Street Journal, an excellent publication to which I’m a subscriber:

“Mr. Zagorsky studied data from 7,403 Americans who participated in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a representative sample of Americans funded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.” (May 5-6, 2007, p. B4)

Here it reads as though the Bureau of Labor Statistics has funded the “Americans” who were in the “representative sample”!

But of course, that’s not true. We know that the study itself was the entity that was funded by the BLS.
That’s why the correct sentence should read:

“Mr. Zagorsky studied data from a representative sample of 7,403 Americans who participated in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth funded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”

Conclusion

Follow the example offered in this blog post to avoid misplaced modifiers in your writing.

MORE INFO

Dangling Participle Worksheet: 100 “Puzzles” with Solutions