Answer: Dangling Modifiers
verilyverity asks, "What is a dangling modifier?"
(with examples from Tin Man)
Some modifiers dangle; some are misplaced. Exactly where the line is drawn seems to vary, but the term "dangling" is commonly used to describe a range of errors.
A modifier is a word or phrase that offers additional information about another element of the sentence. Adjectives and adverbs are well-known modifiers, but prepositional phrases, relative clauses, and other constructions may also serve as modifiers.
A "dangling" modifier is one that fails to modify the intended element of the sentence. Sometimes it appears to be modifying another element entirely; other times the element that it should modify is missing.
Flexible word order can lead us astray.
In English, we usually figure out what goes with what by looking at the order in which words appear. Our word order can be flexible, however, and sometimes that can get us into trouble.
Groucho Marx produced a famous example of a confusingly-placed modifier in the movie Animal Crackers:
Captain Spaulding: "One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know."
The modifier "in my pajamas" is supposed to describe how Captain Spaulding was dressed during the shooting, but its placement in the sentence makes it appear to modify the elephant instead.
"Do you want any pickles or onions on your burger, Officer Gulch?" asked DG.
"No, I like to eat my burgers naked," Elmer replied.
Now that's a mental image I didn't need, thought DG.
Here, DG is interpreting "naked" as a modifier describing Elmer Gulch--as if he eats his burgers while he's in the buff--when it was intended simply as an adjective modifying "burgers." No wonder she fled to the Outer Zone!
When the dangling modifier is a participle, this error is called a "dangling participle," a phrase that you may have heard more often than the broader term "dangling modifier."
Cowering in fear, the victorious Longcoats advanced on their helpless prisoners.
It sounds as if the victorious Longcoats are the ones cowering in fear--which doesn't make sense.
The sentence can be rewritten:
The helpless prisoners cowered in fear as the victorious Longcoats advanced.
or
Cowering in fear, the helpless prisoners watched the Longcoats advance.
Some word-order rules are NOT made to be broken.
One of the word-order rules that is strictly enforced in English grammar is this: if you begin a sentence with a modifier, it needs to apply to the subject. When this rule is broken, as in the cowering-Longcoats example above, you have a problem.
Karen Elizabeth Gordon's The Transitive Vampire has some lovely examples of this:
When a cherub of four years old, her uncle would put things in his pipe and smoke them as she bounced upon his knee. (134)
Obviously, the four-year-old cherub isn't the pipe-smoking uncle; it's the little girl on his knee. The sentence needs to be rewritten:
When a cherub of four years old, she would bounce upon her uncle's knee as he put things in his pipe and smoked them. (134)
Fannish examples may also be produced:
While wandering the O.Z. looking for her real parents, Wyatt Cain promised to protect DG.
Having fled the tortures of the alchemists, no one knew where Glitch would turn up.
While still searching for his heart, a new love inexplicably captivated the Tin Man.
Flushed with exertion, the balcony wall was almost too high for DG to climb.
All of these need to be fixed:
Wyatt Cain promised to protect DG as she wandered the O.Z. looking for her real parents.
Having fled the tortures of the alchemists, Glitch vanished, and no one knew where he would turn up.
While still searching for his heart, the Tin Man was inexplicably captivated by Glitch a new love.
DG, flushed with exertion, found the balcony wall almost too high to climb.
Imagine the poor modifier hanging off a ledge, its poor helpless feet kicking in the air.
So far we have seen sentences in which the modifier appears to be modifying the wrong element. It is even possible for the element to disappear altogether, leaving the poor modifier dangling in mid-air.
Having rounded up all the renegades, an evening of debauchery was the reward.
In our previous examples, the words that the modifiers were meant to modify were there somewhere, just not in a position to be modified correctly. Here, we have no idea who rounded up the renegades.
Having rounded up all the renegades, the Queen's loyal guards looked forward to an evening of debauchery.
A final note on terminology.
The term "dangling modifier" is used colloquially as a general term covering all the examples listed above. Some reference works, such as The Transitive Vampire, restrict its use to the second and third categories; many others, such as The DK Handbook, The Pocket Wadworth Handbook, the Prentice Hall Reference Guide, and the Purdue University Online Writing Lab restrict its use to the third category only. Terms such as "misplaced modifier" are used for the other categories. When the modifier lies ambiguously between two possible elements such that it might modify either one, it is called a "squinting modifier."
References
(with examples from Tin Man)
Some modifiers dangle; some are misplaced. Exactly where the line is drawn seems to vary, but the term "dangling" is commonly used to describe a range of errors.
A modifier is a word or phrase that offers additional information about another element of the sentence. Adjectives and adverbs are well-known modifiers, but prepositional phrases, relative clauses, and other constructions may also serve as modifiers.
A "dangling" modifier is one that fails to modify the intended element of the sentence. Sometimes it appears to be modifying another element entirely; other times the element that it should modify is missing.
Flexible word order can lead us astray.
In English, we usually figure out what goes with what by looking at the order in which words appear. Our word order can be flexible, however, and sometimes that can get us into trouble.
Groucho Marx produced a famous example of a confusingly-placed modifier in the movie Animal Crackers:
Captain Spaulding: "One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know."
The modifier "in my pajamas" is supposed to describe how Captain Spaulding was dressed during the shooting, but its placement in the sentence makes it appear to modify the elephant instead.
"Do you want any pickles or onions on your burger, Officer Gulch?" asked DG.
"No, I like to eat my burgers naked," Elmer replied.
Now that's a mental image I didn't need, thought DG.
Here, DG is interpreting "naked" as a modifier describing Elmer Gulch--as if he eats his burgers while he's in the buff--when it was intended simply as an adjective modifying "burgers." No wonder she fled to the Outer Zone!
When the dangling modifier is a participle, this error is called a "dangling participle," a phrase that you may have heard more often than the broader term "dangling modifier."
Cowering in fear, the victorious Longcoats advanced on their helpless prisoners.
It sounds as if the victorious Longcoats are the ones cowering in fear--which doesn't make sense.
The sentence can be rewritten:
The helpless prisoners cowered in fear as the victorious Longcoats advanced.
or
Cowering in fear, the helpless prisoners watched the Longcoats advance.
Some word-order rules are NOT made to be broken.
One of the word-order rules that is strictly enforced in English grammar is this: if you begin a sentence with a modifier, it needs to apply to the subject. When this rule is broken, as in the cowering-Longcoats example above, you have a problem.
Karen Elizabeth Gordon's The Transitive Vampire has some lovely examples of this:
When a cherub of four years old, her uncle would put things in his pipe and smoke them as she bounced upon his knee. (134)
Obviously, the four-year-old cherub isn't the pipe-smoking uncle; it's the little girl on his knee. The sentence needs to be rewritten:
When a cherub of four years old, she would bounce upon her uncle's knee as he put things in his pipe and smoked them. (134)
Fannish examples may also be produced:
While wandering the O.Z. looking for her real parents, Wyatt Cain promised to protect DG.
Having fled the tortures of the alchemists, no one knew where Glitch would turn up.
While still searching for his heart, a new love inexplicably captivated the Tin Man.
Flushed with exertion, the balcony wall was almost too high for DG to climb.
All of these need to be fixed:
Wyatt Cain promised to protect DG as she wandered the O.Z. looking for her real parents.
Having fled the tortures of the alchemists, Glitch vanished, and no one knew where he would turn up.
While still searching for his heart, the Tin Man was inexplicably captivated by Glitch a new love.
DG, flushed with exertion, found the balcony wall almost too high to climb.
Imagine the poor modifier hanging off a ledge, its poor helpless feet kicking in the air.
So far we have seen sentences in which the modifier appears to be modifying the wrong element. It is even possible for the element to disappear altogether, leaving the poor modifier dangling in mid-air.
Having rounded up all the renegades, an evening of debauchery was the reward.
In our previous examples, the words that the modifiers were meant to modify were there somewhere, just not in a position to be modified correctly. Here, we have no idea who rounded up the renegades.
Having rounded up all the renegades, the Queen's loyal guards looked forward to an evening of debauchery.
A final note on terminology.
The term "dangling modifier" is used colloquially as a general term covering all the examples listed above. Some reference works, such as The Transitive Vampire, restrict its use to the second and third categories; many others, such as The DK Handbook, The Pocket Wadworth Handbook, the Prentice Hall Reference Guide, and the Purdue University Online Writing Lab restrict its use to the third category only. Terms such as "misplaced modifier" are used for the other categories. When the modifier lies ambiguously between two possible elements such that it might modify either one, it is called a "squinting modifier."
References
- Gordon, Karen Elizabeth. The Transitive Vampire: A Handbook for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed. New York: Times Books, 1984.
- Harris, Muriel. Prentice Hall Reference Guide. Sixth Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006.
- Kirszner, Laurie G. and Stephen R. Mandell. The Pocket Wadsworth Handbook. Fourth Edition. Canada: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2008.
- Wysocki, Anne Frances and Dennia A. Lynch. The DK Handbook. New York: Pearson Longman, 2009. (Advance copy)
- Purdue University Online Writing Lab. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_dangmod.html