Grammer a Week 3: Modifiers

This is Grammer a Week, the periodic blog program-thing where I address a frequently broken grammar rule and tell you how to fix it. This week's installment is about modifiers, and what can go wrong when placing them. The modifier is among the most frequently used constructions that exist because of its flexible descriptive power. It's also notoriously easy to misplace, and unlike some other errors, the misplaced modifier is hard to spot. Nevertheless, it is an error, and it's one worth investigating.

---

First off, let's clarify what a modifier is: it's a word or phrase that acts as an adjective and describes something else. A common type of modifier is the participle phrase, or a phrase with a verb form that acts like an adjective:

Roseluck owned a flourishing flower business. Waiting at her stand, she stood patiently for customers to come to her.

Modifiers are very common in stories since they add more description to your prose. Thing is, they're really easy to mess up. I'll cover three ways you can do that with a modifier here: dangling, squinting, and otherwise misplaced modifiers.

Dangling modifiers

Flying over the landscape at a breakneck speed, eventually a rainbow ring of energy exploded in the air.

Wishing she could fly higher, a burning sense of envy washed over Fluttershy's heart.

Both of these are examples of dangling modifiers. Do you see the problem? To catch a dangling modifier, first identify what the modifier is, then identify the object it is modifying. See that in the very first example, flourishing modifies "flower business," and [w]aiting at her stand modifies "she [Roseluck]."

Now, I'll try the same with the above two dangling modifier examples. For the first, [f]lying over the landscape at a breakneck speed is the modifier, and its object is . . . what? Rainbow Dash? That makes sense, sure, but she's not there in the sentence.

For the second example, [w]ishing she could fly higher is the modifier, and its object is . . . Fluttershy? Well, she's not in the sentence proper, either: it's "Fluttershy's heart" that's in the sentence.

This is the core of a dangling modifier: it happens when a modifier modifies something that actually doesn't exist in the sentence. This can lead to some confusion as the modifier may be taken to modify something you didn't intend it to (the burning sense of envy wishes it could fly higher, for example). To fix it, just add the object of the modifier back, and rearrange the sentence a little:

Flying over the landscape at a breakneck speed, Rainbow Dash eventually did the Sonic Rainboom, and a rainbow ring of energy exploded in the air.

Wishing she could fly higher, Fluttershy felt a burning sense of envy wash over her heart.

Misplaced modifiers

Filled with enthusiasm, the party went on as Pinkie bounced around the room.

The misplaced modifier is closely related to the dangling modifier. Again, identify the modifier and its object. The modifier is [f]illed with enthusiasm, and the object is . . . "the party"? Or is it "Pinkie"? In this sentence, it could logically be either. A misplaced modifier error happens when a modifier is placed in an ambiguous location where it could be attributed to multiple objects. To remedy this, just place the modifier closer to the object you intend to modify:

The party went on as Pinkie, filled with enthusiasm, bounced around the room.

Squinting modifiers

Applejack claimed yesterday that she saw a beaver chewing at her apple trees.

The squinting modifier is a special case of misplaced modifier. Here, the modifier is yersterday, and the object is again ambiguous. It could either "look" forward or backwards in the sentence and modify two different objects to different effect. Did Applejack make the claim yesterday? Or is she making the claim now that she saw the beaver yesterday? Just move the modifier around to resolve this error:

Yesterday, Applejack claimed that she saw a beaver chewing at her apple trees.

Applejack claimed that she saw a beaver chewing at her apple trees yesterday.

---

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or comments, please post them below. I'm always open to suggestions for future Grammer a Week posts.