“Dangling modifier” sounds tricky, but most errors of this type are easy to spot with a little practice and equally easy to fix. They are the kind of phrase that makes you stumble over the logic of a sentence. Example:
- Having spent a week in Las Vegas, my suitcase was missing.
Really? Your suitcase spent a week in Las Vegas? Where were you? Clearly the writer meant to say that the suitcase owner spent the week in Las Vegas. So a fix is fairly easy:
- Having spent a week in Las Vegas, I found that my suitcase was missing.
Or
- After I spent a week in Las Vegas, my suitcase was missing.
Dangling modifiers can evoke accidentally humorous images:
- Running to catch the bus, my hat blew into the gutter.
- While taking a test, the fire alarm rang.
To avoid running hats and test-taking fire alarms, rephrase:
- As I ran to catch the bus, my hat blew into the gutter.
- While we were taking a test, the fire alarm rang.
Or
- Running to catch the bus, I lost my hat when it blew into the gutter.
- While taking a test, we were interrupted when the fire alarm rang.
Modifying phrases at the beginning of a sentence attach themselves to the first available noun, so the trick is to be certain that it’s the right noun. Don’t just let the modifier “dangle.”
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