MODIFIERS

1. Misplaced modifiers occur when a modifier is placed against the wrong part of the sentence. They usually produce illogical statements:

• Muckraking has been maligned out of ignorance which did a great deal of good for journalism.

You see? How can something negative (the ignorant maligning of muckraking) do good? It makes no sense. The modifier is in the wrong place. It needs to be set next to the word it describes (Muckraking):

• Muckraking, which did a great deal of good for journalism, has been maligned out of ignorance.

TIP: To avoid misplaced modifiers, think carefully about which words you intend to modify.

Note: Words such as only, even, exactly, almost, nearly, hardly, and just are limiting modifiers. They must be placed immediately before the word they describe: Only the witness testified in the trial. The only witness testified in the trial. The witness only testified in the trial. The witness testified in the only trial.

2. Dangling modifiers occur when the word a modifier is intended to describe is missing from the sentence. The result is an illogical or ambiguous statement.

• Struggling to find the right language, the story was vivid and powerful.

Stories do not struggle to find language; writers do. This sentence can be corrected as follows:

• Struggling to find the right language, the writer created a vivid and powerful story.

TIP: Eliminate dangling modifiers by making sure the subject of the independent clause is clearly present in the sentence as the word being modified.

Wrap Up Modifiers are words that help writers to describe people, places, things and ideas. To avoid illogical statements, writers must watch for misplaced and dangling modifiers.

Speaker Urges: Get Tough on Domestic Violence

<a onClick="window.open('/olcweb/cgi/pluginpop.cgi?it=jpg::::/sites/dl/free/0073511935/567262/Part1_8.jpg','popWin', 'width=NaN,height=NaN,resizable,scrollbars');" href="#"><img valign="absmiddle" height="16" width="16" border="0" src="/olcweb/styles/shared/linkicons/image.gif"> (32.0K)</a> Donna Ferrato

1			Warning against treating domestic violence leniently, the conference began with a statement from the head of Freeport's University Women's Club.
			A)	Yes
			B)	No
2			To ignore such instances, those who commit violence go on to commit more violent offenses.
			A)	Yes
			B)	No
3			Police figures only indicate that 25 percent of all calls result in arrests.
			A)	Yes
			B)	No
4			Ignored by law enforcement officials, crimes against women have increased every year over the past decade, she said.
			A)	Yes
			B)	No
5			By stepping up investigations and arrests, women will no longer be victimized by violent boyfriends and husbands.
			A)	Yes
			B)	No
6			Studying the national crime data, women are injured by their partners every 12 seconds.
			A)	Yes
			B)	No
7			The leading cause of death among women crime victims, the police should be aware of the scope of domestic violence.
			A)	Yes
			B)	No
8			Causing more injuries to women than rape, mugging and car accidents, domestic violence is familiar to hospital personnel but ignored too often by law authorities, Margot Adler, chairwoman of the Mallory College sociology department, said.
			A)	Yes
			B)	No
9			Adler said an abusive relationship should be broken off quickly rather than hoping the abuse will stop.
			A)	Yes
			B)	No
10			But since leaving abusive partners is the major cause of the deaths of women killed by their male partners, women remain at risk, Adler said.
			A)	Yes
			B)	No