“After saying goodbye, the car drove away.” Read through this example sentence carefully — something isn’t quite right. Did the car say goodbye? This is an example of a dangling modifier, one of the most common (and overlooked) grammar mistakes.
A modifier is a word or phrase that adds nuance and depth to the meaning of a sentence. But a “dangling” modifier is a grammatical error that happens when the word or phrase modifies the wrong subject in the sentence. In the example above, the modifier — “after saying goodbye” — doesn’t make sense when applied to the subject of the sentence, “the car.”
The general meaning and sentiment is still usually understood (in this example, the people riding in the car drove away after they said their goodbyes), but these errors can often lead to confusing or humorous results.
Understanding the intricacies of dangling modifiers and how to correct them can help enhance and elevate the clarity of your writing.
Decoding Dangling Modifiers
Here’s an example:
Running down the street, the bakery caught my attention.
The initial clause, "running down the street," is intended to describe the actions of the person who saw the bakery. However, because of the sentence structure, the phrase actually modifies “the bakery,” the true subject of the sentence. Does that mean someone saw a bakery running down the street? Unless the building magically sprouted legs, this is a case of a dangling modifier. And it’s why these grammatical mistakes can make your writing confusing and unclear.
How to Avoid Dangling Modifiers
Dangling modifiers typically hang at the beginning of a sentence, and that’s where their misplacement can have the most significant impact on clarity. Consider these examples:
Incorrect: Eager to impress, the job interview went well.
Correct: Eager to impress, I performed very well in the job interview.
Incorrect: Having finished the book, the lamp was turned off.
Correct: Having finished the book, I turned off the lamp.
In both examples, the initial modifier attaches itself to the wrong subject. In the incorrect versions, it seems “the job interview” is “eager to impress,” while “the lamp” must have “finished the book.” Adding “I” as the subject for the modifier to attach to in both versions corrects the errors.
Famous Jokes With Dangling Modifiers
As a rule of thumb, you should remove dangling modifiers in your writing. However, they aren’t always a bad thing. When used strategically, they can insert unexpected humor, which makes them a favorite tool for comedians and joke writers. In the 1964 Mary Poppins movie, several characters float up to the ceiling in fits of laughter after hearing this joke featuring a dangling modifier:
"I know a man with a wooden leg named Smith.”
"What was the name of his other leg?"
The humor comes from the fact that we don’t know whether the man or his leg goes by the name “Smith.”
Groucho Marx delivered perhaps the most famous example of a dangling modifier in the 1930 film Animal Crackers:
"One morning, I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas, I'll never know."
Here, the dangling modifier is a witty play on words that creates humorous ambiguity. It’s up for debate whether the elephant or Groucho Marx was wearing the pajamas.
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