Modifiers
How's this sentence doing?
Walking along the shore, the whales were leaping among the waves.
This sentence, unfortunately, is suffering from modifier problems. It's a common ailment in complex sentences and easily remedied.
Modifiers--the spice of life!
A modifier's job is to spice up your sentence. It adds an extra layer of detail.
The silver Oldsmobile runs on rocket fuel.
"Silver" in this sentence is the modifier (and an adjective). It modifies our Oldsmobile so we know exactly which car in the parking lot takes rocket fuel, instead of regular unleaded 87.
Modifiers qualify a noun, or give it limitations:
The Oldsmobile runs only on rocket fuel.
This tells us that the Oldsmobile (potentially all Oldsmobiles) can only run with rocket fuel.
Where'd I leave my modifier?!
It's clear cut in most situations where the modifier should be placed--either before or after the noun it modifies. The sentence above would make less sense if we said, "The Oldsmobile runs silver on rocket fuel." This is when we get "misplaced."
"Silver" should be modifying "Oldsmobile," but it's wandered too far away, diluting our meaning. The phrase "runs silver" doesn't really mean anything, making us question what this sentence is saying. We need to keep the modifier with the noun: The silver Oldsmobile.
Likewise, shifting modifiers around can still make sense, but cause our meaning to change in ways we may not want:
(1) We only went to Space Camp.
(2) We went only to Space Camp.
These sentences mean different things. Sentence (1) tells us that visiting Space Camp was all that happened--we didn't participate, we just showed up. Sentence (2) says that we went on vacation specifically to go to Space Camp. We didn't visit other sites or do anything else in the area: we just went to Space Camp and did Space Camp stuff.
For our earlier sentence, "The Oldsmobile only runs on rocket fuel," we're saying that no other fuel will start this car. If it's not rocket fuel that Oldsmobile won't purr.
Stop dangling modifiers at your sister, or I'll pull this car over right now...and get a subject to fix this.
Dangling modifiers occur when they have no noun to modify. Sometimes, we get too excited and imply our subject, rather than include them.
Walking along the shore, the whales were leaping among the waves.
This literally says that the whales were walking along the shore and leaping in the waves, which we know can be tricky for whales, though they may ardently dream otherwise. So how do we fix this? Add a subject, yes, but where and why?
O, Participle Phrase, thou art my finest friend!
"Walking along the shore" is a participle phrase, meaning it's a sentence part that starts with a participle, which is usually an "ing" or "ed" word (unless it's irregular, like "swum" or "felt"). The phrase will have an object and modifiers, but no subject, since the subject occurs outside the participle phrase (either close before or after it).
Paul was doing jumping jacks on the super collider.
Our subject Paul is modified by the participle phrase "doing jumping jacks on the super collider." If it were dangling, this modifier would look like this, "Doing jumping jacks on the super collider." In this instance, it's easy to see that our subject is missing. Who is doing jumping jacks? No clue.
Doing jumping jacks on the super collider, the proton beams missed each other.
Our dangling modifier "Doing jumping jacks on the super collider" is trickier here. We wander into the next half of the sentence, see "the proton beams" and think of it as a subject, which it is. The only trouble is, it's the incorrect one. This noun is not being modified by the participle phrase: the proton beams are not doing jumping jacks. It's placement after the comma makes it the modified noun, whether it's meant to be or not.
Following commas can change your life.
With a participle phrase, the modified subject should always be close by, if not immediately before or after it. When too much distance happens confusion swoops down upon us.
Doing jumping jacks, the proton beams missed each other because of Paul.
Betty watched, walking along the shore, the whales leaping among the waves.
Adjusting her helmet, the rocket fuel filled Oldsmobile was revved up.
Keeping your modifiers and subjects close together and punctuating correctly will usher in clarity.
If your participle phrase comes first, add a comma after it:
Doing jumping jacks on the super collider, Paul caused the proton beams to miss each other.
Walking along the shore, Betty watched the whales leaping among the waves.
If your participle phrase comes after the subject, don't add commas:
Vera adjusting her helmet revved up the Oldsmobile, which was filled with rocket fuel.
If your participle phrase is at the end of the sentence, but it's modifying a word at the beginning, then add a comma before the participle phrase:
Josh agreed to read a translated excerpt from Le Morte d'Arthur at the party, deciding that it wasn't that weird of a request after all.
Purdue OWL: Dangling Modifiers
Grammar Girl: Quick and Dirty Tips: Misplaced Modifiers
Grammar Bytes!: The Misplaced Modifier
Grammar Bytes!: The Participle Phrase
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