Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers: Your Complete Guide

Dangling and misplaced modifiers are sentence structure issues that can make your writing unclear. But the good news is that they’re easy to fix once you understand them!

To understand these common modifier errors, you need to know what modifiers are. And to fix them, you need to understand the specific problems a misused modifier can cause. 

Broadly speaking, modifiers can add clarity, specificity or voice to a sentence. However, a dangling or misplaced modifier can do the opposite, making your writing confusing or inaccurate.

In this guide, you’ll learn all about dangling and misplaced modifiers – what they are, how to identify them, how to fix them and more!

Here’s what you’ll find below:

• A simple definition of modifiers

• Explanations of dangling and misplaced modifiers

• How to fix modifier errors, step by step

• Examples and exercises for dangling modifiers

• Examples and exercises for misplaced modifiers

Ready? Let’s get to it!

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Essential grammar: Modifiers in a nutshell

In English grammar, modifiers are words, phrases or clauses that modify or add detail to part or all of a sentence. 

At their simplest, modifiers include adjectives and adverbs, like “red” or “quickly.” More complicated modifiers can be longer phrases and clauses, like “under the bridge” or “when the sun goes down.” 

You can use modifiers to create clarity, add detail or make your writing more engaging.

Here’s an example of how modifiers can improve your writing:

• She drove her car.

• She drove her old, rusty car.

• She drove her old, rusty car in the rain.

As you can see, these modifiers help paint a much more compelling picture. 

So, what could go wrong?

Modifier errors and how to fix them

Let’s look at the two most common modifier errors – dangling modifiers and misplaced modifiers.

What are dangling and misplaced modifiers?

A misplaced modifier means that the modifier is too far from the word or phrase it’s modifying. This can make what it’s referring to unclear or muddy the meaning of the sentence overall.

For example:

The child was sent to the nurse with a cold.

Because of the order of words, “with a cold” could mean either the child or the nurse has a cold. To make it clearer, we simply need to reorder the words. 

The child with a cold was sent to the nurse.

If we wanted to say that the nurse was the one with a cold, we could either change the wording or reorder the sentence to make that crystal clear.

For example:

The child was sent to the nurse, who had a cold.

The nurse with a cold treated the child.

A dangling modifier, on the other hand, is a modifier with nothing to modify – meaning what it’s modifying has been accidentally left out of the sentence altogether. 

For example:

Walking in the rain, the street lamps looked lovely.

We’re missing who is walking in the rain (unless it was the street lamps!). To fix this, we need to add the subject back into the sentence.

When I was

With this small adjustment, the sentence suddenly makes sense!

How to fix modifier errors, step by step

Here’s the easiest way to spot a modifier error:

1. Identify any modifiers in the sentence. You can underline them if it helps!

2. Identify what the modifiers refer to. For a visual aid, draw an arrow from the modifier to whatever it modifies. Put what’s being modified in bold.

3. Ask yourself:
   A. Does the sentence clearly mention the person or thing the modifier is referring to? If you can’t draw an arrow to it, you have a dangling modifier.
   
   B. Is the modifier too far from what it’s modifying? Could it seem like it’s modifying something else?

Eating at the restaurant, a burger was served by the waiter that was burnt.

See the modifiers?

Eating at the restaurant,

that was burnt.

Let’s see if we can connect them to what they’re modifying.

—>? <—------------------------------------------

Eating at the restaurant,

that was burnt.

It’s unclear who was “eating at the restaurant” (it kind of sounds like the burger was eating at the restaurant!) and “that was burnt” is too far from “a burger,” so you might think the waiter was burnt!

Now, how do we fix this?

1. Add the missing words for any dangling modifiers.

When I was

eating at the restaurant,

that was burnt.

2. Move any misplaced modifiers closer to what they’re modifying.

When I was

eating at the restaurant,

that was burnt

Pro Tip: At this point, the sentence is correct, but if we want to keep improving the sentence, we can change it from passive voice to active voice ("When I was eating at the restaurant, the waiter served a burnt burger”). Passive voice is commonly found alongside misplaced modifiers, and reducing your use of passive voice can help you both avoid misplaced modifiers and make your writing stronger. 

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Misplaced modifiers

Take a closer look at the different kinds of misplaced modifiers and try fixing them yourself.

Exercises

Identify what’s wrong with the first sentence and how it was fixed by the second version of the sentence.

1. I, with mustard, eat my hot dog.

I eat my hot dog with mustard.

2. He was looking for green men’s gloves.

He was looking for men's gloves in green.

3. He was petting his cat, talking on the phone.

He was talking on the phone while petting his cat.

Answers:

1. “I, with mustard, eat my hot dog.” This makes it sounds like you and mustard are eating your hot dog. The phrase “with mustard” must go after “hot dog” to make the meaning clear.

2. “He was looking for green men’s gloves.” This can sound like he was looking for gloves for green men. Putting the word “green” next to the word “gloves” makes the meaning clearer.

3. “He was petting his cat, talking on the phone.” It’s unclear who was talking on the phone. Was it the cat? Probably not! Adding the word “while” makes it clear who was talking on the phone in this sentence.

And one special misplaced modifier error

Now that you have a feel for misplaced modifiers, here’s one more kind to keep an eye out for. While the other misplaced modifiers create clarity issues, misplaced modifiers like “only,” “barely,” “just,” “nearly,” and “almost” can change the meaning of a sentence when placed incorrectly. 

For example:

I almost found a dollar on the ground.

Here, “almost” is modifying “found.” This means you could have found a dollar on the ground, but didn’t. Maybe someone else found it after you.

I found almost a dollar on the ground.

Here, “almost” is modifying “a dollar.” This means you found money on the ground, and it was less than a dollar.

Be careful with the placement of these words to ensure that you express your meaning correctly!

Exercises

Now it’s your turn. Figure out other ways to phrase these sentences to make them clearer.

• She served the chicken to the man fried.

• My car was at the shop with a broken wheel.

• They nearly ate four pizzas.

• I went to the new movie with my friend starring Meryl Streep.

• She walked through the grocery store and found her cereal texting her mom.

• She was looking for brown women’s shoes.

• They bought a fancy crib for the baby they called “The Dream Machine.”

• (For the answers, look at the “Answers to exercises” section below.)

Dangling modifiers

Don’t leave these modifiers dangling! Review more examples of dangling modifiers and get practice spotting and editing them. The first sentence of each example pair below contains a dangling modifier, while the second sentence has been corrected.

Examples

• Riding the ferris wheel, the sky looked huge.

• When they were riding the ferris wheel, the sky looked huge.

• To impress the clients, Margaret should design our department’s slide deck.

• If we want to impress the clients, Margaret should design our department’s slide deck.

• Fumbling in the dark, the milk hit the floor.

• As I was fumbling in the dark, the milk hit the floor.

• The movie theater was crowded when buying the tickets.

• The movie theater was crowded when we were buying the tickets.

Exercises

Ready? Do your best to fix these unclear sentences.

• Running along the shore, the seagulls were noisy.

• Wearing a long sweater, the office was still cold.

• Piled up on the floor, I couldn’t pick a new pair of pants.

• Having taken a delicate bite, the pizza was burning hot.

• Whining and barking, I decided to serve the dog dinner.

• After dancing all night, the lights turned on at dawn.

Answers to exercises

Here are some possible answers – note that in some cases, more than one answer is possible.

Misplaced modifiers

• She served the fried chicken to the man.

• My car was at the shop because it had a broken wheel.

• They ate nearly four pizzas.

• I went to the new movie starring Meryl Streep with my friend.

• Texting her mom, she walked through the grocery store and found her cereal.

• She was looking for brown shoes for women.

• They bought a fancy crib they called “The Dream Machine” for the baby.

Dangling modifiers

• When we were running along the shore, the seagulls were noisy.

• Although I was wearing a long sweater, the office was still cold.

• Because the clothes were piled up on the floor, I couldn’t pick a new pair of pants.

• I took a delicate bite because the pizza was burning hot.

• The dog was whining and barking, so I decided to serve it dinner.

• After we danced all night, the lights turned on at dawn.

Don’t leave us hanging…

Now that you know how to identify common modifier mistakes like dangling and misplaced modifiers, practice applying these skills with Busuu.

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