Modification

Dangling,
Misplaced &
Squinting Modifiers
Lesson & Exercises

In any given sentence, modifiers should be placed as close as possible to the nouns, pronouns, or phrases they
modify; sentences that separate modifiers from the items they modify are often unclear and sometimes downright
absurd.

There are three main types of modification errors.

1) Dangling Modifiers

2) Misplaced Modifiers

3) Squinting Modifiers

Dangling Modifiers
Sentences that include dangling modifiers are typically characterized by an introductory phrase or clause that
describes the subject but does not name it. This clause is always set off from the rest of the sentence by a comma.

Whenever a sentence contains such an introductory statement, the subject must appear immediately after the
comma. If the subject does not appear there, the modifier is dangling, and the sentence is incorrect.

Incorrect: An elementary school teacher from Arkansas, increased funding and support for
public libraries were what Bessie Boehm Moore worked for.

The first thing we can note about the above sentence is that it contains an introductory phrase (An elementary school
teacher from Arkansas) that does not name the subject – it does not tell us who the elementary school teacher from
Arkansas is.

We must therefore ask ourselves whom or what it is referring to. When we look at the rest of the sentence, it is clear
that this description can only refer to Bessie Boehm Moore.

The words Bessie Boehm Moore do not appear immediately after the comma, so the modifier is dangling.

In order to fix the sentence, we must place Bessie Boehm Moore’s name after the comma.

Correct: An elementary school teacher from Arkansas, Bessie Boehm Moore worked to
increase funding and support for public libraries.

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One construction to watch out for involves the possessive form of a subject placed after an introductory phrase.

Incorrect: An elementary school teacher from Arkansas, Bessie Boehm Moore’s goal was to
increase funding and support for public libraries.

At first glance, this sentence looks and sounds correct. But who is the elementary school teacher from Arkansas?
Bessie Boehm Moore.

Here, however, the goal is the subject – not Bessie Boehm Moore. As a result, the modifier is dangling.

Correct: An elementary school teacher from Arkansas, Bessie Boehm Moore worked to
increase funding and support for public libraries.

When fixing dangling modifiers, it is most important that you identify the subject because that word must follow
the introductory phrase. The rest of the sentence you can then rearrange as necessary.

Note that it is acceptable to begin the main clause with a modifier describing the subject; the description is
considered part of the complete subject.

Correct: An Arkansas native, elementary school teacher Bessie Boehm Moore worked to
increase funding and support for public libraries.

In the above sentence, the phrase elementary school teacher functions not as a noun but as a modifier describing Bessie
Boehm Moore. As a result, it can be correctly placed after the comma.

Note that sentences that begin with participles, both present (ending in –ing) and past (typically ending in –ed, but
also in –ung, –unk, –own for irregular verbs), are particularly vulnerable to the creation of dangling modifiers.

Present Participle

Incorrect: Stretching from one end of the city to the other, the efficiency of the new tram
system often surprises both tourists and city residents.

Correct: Stretching from one end of the city to the other, the new tram system often
surprises both tourists and city residents with its efficiency.

Past Participle

Incorrect: Raised in a small town in Missouri, the majority of singer and actress Josephine
Baker’s career was spent performing throughout Europe.

Correct: Raised in a small town in Missouri, singer and actress Josephine Baker spent the
majority of her career performing throughout Europe.

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2 © 2018 The Critical Reader, www.thecriticalreader.com
Exercise: Dangling Modifiers
For each of the following sentences, identify and underline the noun (i.e., the subject) described in the
introductory phrase.

1. Characterized by scenes that are shot quickly and in real time, low budgets and simple props are both typical
elements of guerilla filmmaking.

2. Located in the southern Andes and covered by glaciers, the most recent eruption of the volcano known as
Tronador occurred many centuries ago.

3. Born in St. Lucia in the West Indies, author Derek Walcott’s work includes a number of plays and poems,
most notably Omeros.

4. One of hundreds of islands that form the Indonesian archipelago, the width of Bali is less than 100 miles, yet it
holds within its borders a rich and dramatic history.

5. Founded in the 1860s by William Morris, an English textile designer and social activist, the emphasis of the
Arts and Crafts Movement was on natural materials and traditional craftsmanship.

6. One of the greatest musicians of her time, Clara Wieck’s piano studies began when she was five years old; by
the age of twelve she was renowned as both a performer and a composer.

7. Having opened last year to glowing reviews, the quality of the food served at the café has since declined
noticeably.

8. Projecting an image of pain and brutality that has few parallels among advanced paintings of the twentieth
century, Pablo Picasso created Guernica in the aftermath of a World War II bombing.

9. Though educated and well mannered, the status of Jane Eyre remains low throughout the majority of the
novel that bears her name.

10. Predicting renewed interest in their country’s natural resources, a plan has been established by political
leaders to create mines in the most underdeveloped regions.

11. Believing that real estate prices would not rise indefinitely, it was argued by the economist that the housing
bubble would eventually burst.

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3 © 2018 The Critical Reader, www.thecriticalreader.com
12. Despite winning several architectural awards, the impractical layout of the university’s new dormitory has
been criticized by students.

13. One of the earliest authorities to take a stand against pollution, it was proclaimed by King Edward I in 1306
that sea coal could not be burned because the smoke it created was hazardous to people’s health.

14. Unsure that he was fully ready for the championship fencing match, Carlos’s day off was spent practicing and
refining his strategies.

15. Having remained under Moorish rule until the twelfth century, Arabic was still spoken by many Spaniards
when their cities first came under the control of European monarchs.

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4 © 2018 The Critical Reader, www.thecriticalreader.com
 Misplaced Modifiers
Unlike dangling modifiers, misplaced modifiers do not necessarily involve introductory phrases and can occur
anywhere in a sentence. They do, however, involve modifiers that are separated from the words or phrases they are
intended to modify – a construction that often produces unintentionally ridiculous or illogical statements.

Some errors involve single words:

Incorrect: Hersheypark was opened in 1907 as only a leisure park for employees of the Hershey
Chocolate Company, but Hershey executives later decided that members of the public
should be given access as well.

The placement of the word only in the above version of the sentence implies that Hersheypark was exclusively a
leisure park when it opened, but that it later became something else.

The statement that members of the public were later given access to the park suggests an alternate meaning,
however – namely, that when Hersheypark was opened, employees of the Hershey Chocolate Company were the
sole people given access to it.

Logically, then, the word only should modify employees of the Hershey Chocolate Company.

Correct: Hersheypark was opened in 1907 as a leisure park for employees of the Hershey
Chocolate Company only, but Hershey executives later decided that members of the
public should be given access as well.

This version of the sentence makes it clear that only refers to the employees rather than to the park itself.

Other errors involve entire phrases, often involving relative pronouns (which, that, who):

Incorrect: Paul Conrad was a cartoonist known for his political satires that spent nearly three
decades on staff at The Los Angeles Times.

Even though it’s pretty obvious what the sentence is trying to say, what it’s actually saying is that political satires
spent three decades on staff at the newspaper, when it was clearly Paul Conrad who did so.

Note that this type of construction illustrates the perils of using that to refer to people. Because that can also refer to
things, the potential to create ambiguous or misleading constructions is much higher.

In order to correct the sentence, we must make it clear Conrad, not the political satires, worked at the newspaper.

There are a number of possible fixes, all of which are equally acceptable.

Correct: Paul Conrad, a cartoonist known for his political satires, spent nearly three decades
on staff at The Los Angeles Times.

Correct: Paul Conrad, who spent nearly three decades on staff at The Los Angeles Times, was a
cartoonist known for his political satires.

Correct: Paul Conrad was a cartoonist known for his political satires; he spent nearly three
decades on staff at The Los Angeles Times.

Correct: Known for his political satires, Paul Conrad spent nearly three decades on staff at
The Los Angeles Times.

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5 © 2018 The Critical Reader, www.thecriticalreader.com
 Squinting Modifiers
“Squinting” modifiers are so named because they look in both directions. Whereas dangling and misplaced
modifiers describe the wrong thing, squinting modifiers create ambiguity by potentially modifying two things.

For example, consider the following statement:

Incorrect: Writing papers at the last minute quickly leads to grammatical errors.

In the above sentence, the word quickly can modify either writing or leads.

• If it modifies writing, then the sentence is referring to the act of writing quickly at the last minute.

• If it modifies leads, then the sentence is saying that grammatical errors quickly appear when papers are
written at the last minute.

To fix the error, we must rearrange the sentence to make it clear which word quickly is intended to modify.

Correct: Quickly writing papers at the last minute leads to grammatical errors.

Correct: When students write papers at the last minute, they quickly make grammatical
errors.

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6 © 2018 The Critical Reader, www.thecriticalreader.com
Exercise: Misplaced and Squinting Modifiers

Rewrite the following sentences to eliminate errors involving misplaced and squinting modification.

1. A recent discovery suggests that for the past 2.5 billion years, a B-flat has been continuously emitted by a
black hole 250 million light years from Earth, the lowest note ever detected.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Claude McKay was one of the most important poets of the Harlem Renaissance that moved to New York after
studying agronomy in Kansas.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. The California Street Cable Railroad is an established public transit company in San Francisco, which was
founded by Leland Stanford.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Some studies indicate that consuming small amounts of chocolate frequently is correlated with good health.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Only after joining Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet did Herbie Hancock, who professionally had
performed as a musician since the age of seven, succeed in finding his voice as a pianist.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

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7 © 2018 The Critical Reader, www.thecriticalreader.com
6. When President James K. Polk officially confirmed the discovery by James Marshall of gold flakes at Sutter’s
Mill in Coloma, California, in 1848, hopeful prospectors immediately began planning to travel there.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

7. Some of the world’s fastest trains run between the cities of Tokyo and Kyoto, which can reach speeds of up to
200 miles per hour.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

8. When economic activity weakens, monetary policymakers can push interest rate targets below the economy’s
natural rate, lowering the cost temporarily of borrowing.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

9. Many ancient cities were protected from bands of invaders by fortresses that roamed in search of settlements
to plunder.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

10. Thousands of forged stamps have been produced over the years, and a thorough knowledge of philately only
offers any hope of detecting the fakes.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

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8 © 2018 The Critical Reader, www.thecriticalreader.com
Answers: Dangling Modifiers

1. Characterized by scenes that are shot quickly and in real time, low budgets and simple props are both typical
elements of guerilla filmmaking.

2. Located in the southern Andes and covered by glaciers, the most recent eruption of the volcano known as
Tronador occurred many centuries ago.

3. Born in St. Lucia in the West Indies, author Derek Walcott’s work includes a number of plays and poems,
most notably Omeros.

4. One of hundreds of islands that form the Indonesian archipelago, the width of Bali is less than 100 miles, yet it
holds within its borders a rich and dramatic history.

5. Founded in the 1860s by William Morris, an English textile designer and social activist, the emphasis of the
Arts and Crafts Movement was on natural materials and traditional craftsmanship.

6. One of the greatest musicians of her time, Clara Wieck’s piano studies began when she was five years old; by
the age of twelve she was renowned as both a performer and a composer.

7. Having opened last year to glowing reviews, the quality of the food served at the café has since declined
noticeably.

8. Projecting an image of pain and brutality that has few parallels among advanced paintings of the twentieth
century, Guernica was created by Pablo Picasso in the aftermath of a World War II bombing.

9. Though educated and well mannered, the status of Jane Eyre remains low throughout the majority of the
novel that bears her name.

10. Predicting renewed interest in their country’s natural resources, a plan has been established by political
leaders to create mines in the most underdeveloped regions.

11. Believing that real estate prices would not rise indefinitely, it was argued by the economist that the housing
bubble would eventually burst.

12. Despite winning several architectural awards, the impractical layout of the university’s new dormitory has
been criticized by students.

____________________________________________
9 © 2018 The Critical Reader, www.thecriticalreader.com
13. One of the earliest authorities to take a stand against pollution, it was proclaimed by King Edward I in 1306
that sea coal could not be burned because the smoke it created was hazardous to people’s health.

14. Unsure that he was fully ready for the championship fencing match, Carlos’s day off was spent practicing and
refining his strategies.

15. Having remained under Moorish rule until the twelfth century, Arabic was still spoken by many Spaniards
when their cities first came under the control of European monarchs.

____________________________________________
10 © 2018 The Critical Reader, www.thecriticalreader.com
Possible Answers: Misplaced and Squinting Modifiers

1. A recent discovery suggests that for the past 2.5 billion years, a B-flat, the lowest note ever detected, has been
continuously emitted by a black hole 250 million light years from Earth.

2. Claude McKay, one of the most important poets of the Harlem Renaissance, moved to New York after
studying agronomy in Kansas.

3. The California Street Cable Railroad, which was founded by Leland Stanford, is an established public transit
company in San Francisco.

4. Some studies indicate that frequently consuming small amounts of chocolate is correlated with good health.
OR:
Some studies indicate that consuming small amounts of chocolate is frequently correlated with good health.

5. Only after joining Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet did Herbie Hancock, who had performed
professionally as a musician since the age of seven, succeed in finding his voice as a pianist.

6. When President James K. Polk officially confirmed James Marshall’s discovery of gold flakes at Sutter’s Mill
in Coloma, California, in 1848, hopeful prospectors immediately began planning to travel there.

7. Some of the world’s fastest trains, which can reach speeds of up to 200 miles per hour, run between the cities
of Tokyo and Kyoto.

8. When economic activity weakens, monetary policymakers can push interest rate targets below the economy’s
natural rate, temporarily lowering the cost of borrowing.

9. Fortresses protected many ancient cities from bands of invaders that roamed in search of settlements to
plunder.

10. Thousands of forged stamps have been produced over the years, and only a thorough knowledge of philately
offers any hope of detecting the fakes.

____________________________________________
11 © 2018 The Critical Reader, www.thecriticalreader.com