misplaced modifiers Archives

A few weeks ago, I wrote about misplaced modifiers. I used “misplaced modifiers” and “dangling modifiers” as synonyms; however, they are not synonyms. My friend Estella Ramirez explains.

There’s an old Groucho Marx joke that goes:

“I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don’t know.”

If you can get the joke, you can understand misplaced modifiers. The modifier here is “in my pajamas,” and well, the sensible thing to do would be to put that modifier next to “I” as in “In my pajamas, I shot an elephant.” It’s clear that Groucho’s wearing the pajamas. It’s clear, but not funny at all.

Misplaced modifiers, better known as dangling modifiers, have caught many a writer unaware. I’ve found the things in my own writing. Although my mistake did not turn one of my brothers into a zombie (Just click on the link and look at the last rule listed. It’s funny, I promise.), it was noted by a dutiful professor and his or her red pen. I still am prone to misplacing modifiers; it happens when I’m in the middle of writing and not paying attention to what I’m doing. I’m trying to get the words on the page. It is my role as an editor that pays attention to such things and notes when I have inadvertently disconnected a modifier from its true subject.

Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers: Who Cares?

Write Right: Misplaced Modifiers

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