Dangling and misplaced modifiers
Modifiers are single words or phrases that modify other words or phrases. Position a modifier to make it clear what it modifies.
If you keep sentences short and simple and use active voice, you probably won’t run into dangling or misplaced modifiers.
- A dangling modifier doesn’t modify anything in the sentence.
- A misplaced modifier is too far from the thing it modifies or too near to something else that it could modify.
| Example | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Only the selected text is deleted. | Nothing other than the selected text is deleted. |
| The selected text only is deleted. | Only could modify is deleted or text. This sentence could mean one of two things:
|
| There are files that can’t be removed on the disk. | The phrase that can’t be removed modifies the files. This sentence clearly explains that the files can’t be removed, and they are on the disk. |
| There are files on the disk that can’t be removed. | The phrase that can’t be removed probably modifies the disk, but the writer may have intended to modify files. This sentence could mean one of two things:
|