“We saw several monkeys on vacation in Mexico.”

flashy, red, lifted Chevy dark blue, low-rider Chevy broken down, rusty Chevy

Jake lovingly maintained his Chevy. Steven carelessly neglected his junker.

Mine was an intensely blue Chevy. Steven’s Chevy was a hideously rusty wreck.

Jake chose a restoration partner really carefully. Steven very gladly sold his junker for parts.

Phrases are word groups without a subject-verb pair.

Clauses are word groups containing subject-verb pairs.

Phrases Clauses

In the elevator The TV doesn’t work

Smashed beyond repair While he was sleeping

The patient with several emotional problems was referred to a psychologist.

Sam found a letter that doesn't belong to her in the mailbox.

Abraham Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address on the back of an envelope while traveling from Washington to Gettysburg.

Bert saw his watch, smashed beyond repair, lying on the tennis court.

My cousin went on and on in the elevator, describing the details of her wedding.

So, what’s funny about these sentences?

The patient was referred to a psychologist with several emotional problems .

Sam found a letter in the mailbox that doesn't belong to her .

Abraham Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address while traveling from Washington to Gettysburg on the back of an envelope.

Smashed beyond repair, Bert saw his watch lying on the tennis court.

My cousin went on and on, describing the details of her wedding in the elevator.

Dangling: hanging or flapping around freely.

After reading the new Steven King book, the movie was sure to be scary. (The movie read the book? Or who?)

While driving down the highway, a bad collision was seen. (Was a bad collision driving? Or who?)

In reviewing Gareth’s computer records, hundreds of hours spent on online auctions were identified. (Who reviewed his computer records?)

To get more reliable results, the experiment was run again. (The experiment wanted to get better results? Or who?)

We almost made $3,000, but then the buyer backed out.

We made almost $3,000--$2993, to be exact.

Just Kelly was picked to go to the conference. I wasn’t picked.

Kelly was picked to go just to the conference, not to the retreat.

Kelly was just picked to go to the conference; they decided at the noon meeting.

1. What are the modifiers? 2. Which ones are misplaced? 3.How would you fix them?

He was staring at the girl by the vending machinewearing dark glasses.

I heard there was a military coupon the evening news.

She made the mistake of walking the dogin high heels.

Eric’s foot showed his nervousness during the interview,which jiggled continuously.

What are the modifiers? Which ones are dangling? How would you fix them?

Moonwalking across the stage,he accepted his diploma.

I like to listen to musicdoing my homework.

To become a teacher,classroom practice is valuable.

Your grades must be above averageto be a tutor in the WLDC.

After studying the evidence,I’m convinced you’re right.

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/modifiers.htm#misplaced

http://www.quibblo.com/quiz/7WcrtPG/Misplaced-Modifiers

This Yuba College Writing & Language Development Center Tip Sheet is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0

If you borrow, use, or adapt our work, give us credit!Your attribution should cite the Yuba College Writing & Language Development Center.

Created for the Yuba College Writing & Language Development Centerby Rosemary McKeever, 2012