Answer: dangling participles/dangling modifiers
mha_chan wants to know: What are dangling participles, modifiers, etc.?
In short, dangling modifiers (sometimes called misplaced modifiers) are a type of grammatical error that can make your sentences unclear, misleading, or downright silly to the reader. Dangling participles are a subset of dangling modifiers.
Let's find out more about what they are and how to avoid them, with some help from the students and staff at Hogwarts.
Modifiers in general are words or phrases that tell you more about some part of the main clause-they serve as adjectives or adverbs.
Livid, Snape left the Headmaster's office.
Here, livid modifies Snape. It tells you more about his state of mind as he leaves the office.
Participles are forms of verbs that can be used as modifiers. A present participle is the -ing form of the verb. A past participle usually ends in -ed, although some verbs have irregular past participle forms.
Fred, laughing, took off on his broom. (present participle)
Stumped, Ron eyed his exam mournfully. (past participle)
Caught, Harry could only pretend ignorance of the time. (past participle of an irregular verb)
These could also be written as participial phrases:
Fred, laughing wildly, took off on his broom.
Stumped already on the first question, Ron eyed his exam mournfully.
Caught in the halls after curfew, Harry could only pretend ignorance of the time.
When these modifiers become "dangling" or "misplaced" is when what it is that they are modifying is unclear or misleading. Often, what the modifier is supposed to be describing is elsewhere in the sentence, and the modifier mistakenly appears to refer to something nearer to it.
Hermione watched the Quidditch team leafing idly through her textbook. [Wait, the whole team is reading her book? Why?]
Happy to be better, Poppy let Ron leave the infirmary. [If Poppy's the one feeling better, why is Ron leaving the infirmary?]
Crippled by the pain in his scar, Voldemort thought Harry an easy target. [Since when does Voldemort have a scar?]
In order for these to be read correctly, the modifiers need to be moved or the sentence reworded.
Leafing idly through her textbook, Hermione watched the Quidditch team.
Poppy let Ron, happy to be better, leave the infirmary.
Since Harry was crippled by the pain in his scar, Voldemort thought he was an easy target.
Sometimes the actual word the modifier should refer to isn't in the sentence at all.
Walking to Hogsmeade, the rain was oppressive.
Even though participles used as modifiers aren't acting as verbs, it is still useful to ask yourself what the subject of the verb would be if they were. Here, the rain isn't walking, so we need to show who is.
Walking to Hogsmeade, the Trio felt the rain was oppressive.
In the following example, the subject is close, but not quite right.
Having perfect scores on her NEWTS, Hermione's future looked very bright.
Hermione's future didn't take the NEWTS, she did.
Hermione's perfect scores on her NEWTS meant her future looked very bright.
Why worry about dangling participles and other modifiers? Sometimes the meaning can still be parsed out. However, it may take your reader one or two tries to determine your intention, and sometimes what you wanted to say may never be clear. A dangling modifier can also lead to unintentionally hilarious results:
After turning a bright turquoise color, Snape added mugwort to the potion.
In the hands of a master, though, a dangling modifier can be used to great comic effect. The Wikipedia article on dangling modifiers quotes one by Groucho Marx:
One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know.
Be sure to visit the previous post on dangling modifiers by amedia, here.
In short, dangling modifiers (sometimes called misplaced modifiers) are a type of grammatical error that can make your sentences unclear, misleading, or downright silly to the reader. Dangling participles are a subset of dangling modifiers.
Let's find out more about what they are and how to avoid them, with some help from the students and staff at Hogwarts.
Modifiers in general are words or phrases that tell you more about some part of the main clause-they serve as adjectives or adverbs.
Livid, Snape left the Headmaster's office.
Here, livid modifies Snape. It tells you more about his state of mind as he leaves the office.
Participles are forms of verbs that can be used as modifiers. A present participle is the -ing form of the verb. A past participle usually ends in -ed, although some verbs have irregular past participle forms.
Fred, laughing, took off on his broom. (present participle)
Stumped, Ron eyed his exam mournfully. (past participle)
Caught, Harry could only pretend ignorance of the time. (past participle of an irregular verb)
These could also be written as participial phrases:
Fred, laughing wildly, took off on his broom.
Stumped already on the first question, Ron eyed his exam mournfully.
Caught in the halls after curfew, Harry could only pretend ignorance of the time.
When these modifiers become "dangling" or "misplaced" is when what it is that they are modifying is unclear or misleading. Often, what the modifier is supposed to be describing is elsewhere in the sentence, and the modifier mistakenly appears to refer to something nearer to it.
Hermione watched the Quidditch team leafing idly through her textbook. [Wait, the whole team is reading her book? Why?]
Happy to be better, Poppy let Ron leave the infirmary. [If Poppy's the one feeling better, why is Ron leaving the infirmary?]
Crippled by the pain in his scar, Voldemort thought Harry an easy target. [Since when does Voldemort have a scar?]
In order for these to be read correctly, the modifiers need to be moved or the sentence reworded.
Leafing idly through her textbook, Hermione watched the Quidditch team.
Poppy let Ron, happy to be better, leave the infirmary.
Since Harry was crippled by the pain in his scar, Voldemort thought he was an easy target.
Sometimes the actual word the modifier should refer to isn't in the sentence at all.
Walking to Hogsmeade, the rain was oppressive.
Even though participles used as modifiers aren't acting as verbs, it is still useful to ask yourself what the subject of the verb would be if they were. Here, the rain isn't walking, so we need to show who is.
Walking to Hogsmeade, the Trio felt the rain was oppressive.
In the following example, the subject is close, but not quite right.
Having perfect scores on her NEWTS, Hermione's future looked very bright.
Hermione's future didn't take the NEWTS, she did.
Hermione's perfect scores on her NEWTS meant her future looked very bright.
Why worry about dangling participles and other modifiers? Sometimes the meaning can still be parsed out. However, it may take your reader one or two tries to determine your intention, and sometimes what you wanted to say may never be clear. A dangling modifier can also lead to unintentionally hilarious results:
After turning a bright turquoise color, Snape added mugwort to the potion.
In the hands of a master, though, a dangling modifier can be used to great comic effect. The Wikipedia article on dangling modifiers quotes one by Groucho Marx:
One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know.
Be sure to visit the previous post on dangling modifiers by amedia, here.