What Is A Dangling Modifier? - The Grammar Guide. A reinforcing question can be “would this sentence work on its own if someone didn’t know what i was writing about?” if the answer is no, then you may well have an issue with a dangling modifier. The modifier in this sentence is thirsty.
Correcting Dangling Modifiers
A dangling modifier occurs when the subject the modifier is supposed to describe is not the subject of the sentence. Misplaced modifiers are a type of dangling modifier. The modifying word or phrase must be next to the word it is describing. This will make your readers either laugh or scratch their heads, neither of which is your intended outcome. The first is due to the modifying word or phrase being placed too far from the word or group of words it’s meant to modify. A dangling modifier is a modifier that is present in a sentence but the purpose of which is not fulfilled because the thing it describes is missing in the same sentence. For a sentence to be clear and correct, both a subject and modifier should be in the same sentence. It all starts on a cold, dark night…you’re sitting on the sofa, wrapped up in a soft blanket, holding a tablet in your hand. A dangling modifier will often give itself away by seeming misplaced or describing the wrong element in a sentence. You will have to identify and improve faulty modifiers in the writing section of the sat® test.
Such a modifier is called a dangling modifier. The modifier in this sentence is thirsty. Dangling modifiers change the meaning of the sentence in an unintended way. Modifiers usually apply to the nearest noun to them. The word or words a dangling modifier should modify have been omitted from the sentence. A dangling modifier is misplaced because it does not have anything to modify. And, as a proofreader, you need to look out for dangling and misplaced modifiers. When writers leave out the noun or noun phrase they intend to modify, the modifier may appear to. Such a modifier is called a dangling modifier. A modifier often occurs at the beginning of a sentence. A dangling modifier is a modifier that is present in a sentence but the purpose of which is not fulfilled because the thing it describes is missing in the same sentence.
