Once you get the hang of the basic grammar rules in English, you may want to start adding some variation in your sentence structure, including adding modifiers to your writing. However, make sure your modifier is a logical place in your sentence. Take this example:
- At age six, my father got me a toy airplane.
Here, the six-year-old child is the one who received the toy airplane, and yet the modifier (At age six) is modifying my father instead of the child. This makes it sound like a six-year-old father gave his child a toy airplane.
We can rearrange the sentence in several different ways to make sure the modifier is not in an illogical place:
- At age six, I received a toy airplane from my father.
Many English teachers may discourage the use of passive voice, so if you are so inclined, you may also rephrase the sentence to something like:
- My father gave me a toy airplane when I was six years old.
Let’s take another example.
- Frightened and anxious, Wayne comforted the shaking Olivia.
We can deduce that the shaking Olivia is the one who is frightened and anxious, not Wayne who is comforting her. Therefore, the sentence should be rewritten to convey that message properly. Although it is possible that Wayne is comforting Olivia even though he is frightened and anxious, it is quite unlikely unless the context specifically tells us so.
- Frightened and anxious, the shaking Olivia was comforted by Wayne.
If you prefer not to use passive voice, you can also write the sentence like so:
- Wayne comforted the shaking Olivia who was both frightened and anxious.
A misplaced modifier does not just come at the beginning of a sentence.
- Justin caught the badger on his way to work.
This sentence is implying that the badger was the one on the way to work when it was Justin. We can fix this by rewriting the sentence:
- On his way to work, Justin caught the badger.
Now, try rearranging this sentence on your own to correct the misplaced modifier:
- Dusty and battered, Ava took the old book off the shelves.
We can see here that the old book is the object that is dusty and battered, not Ava. The adjectives are misplaced, however, making it seem like Ava is dusty and battered. We can rearrange the sentence so we don’t run into this misunderstanding.
- Ava took the old book, which was dusty and battered, off the shelves.
When checking for misplaced modifiers, make sure you check if your modifier is next to the correct noun. Problems like misplaced modifiers can be solved with simple logic, and thankfully, there is no need to memorize a long list of idioms or vocabulary to become a master at it. And remember, you can always double-check your sentence on Engram as well!
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