My last post from Violet’s Vibes had examples of misplaced modifiers. Here a few more from Bonnie Trenga’s book, The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier, a Writers Digest Book. She explains that since a modifier usually describes the nearest noun, when it ends up next to the wrong word, it becomes misplaced. Here are some examples from her book:
“After robbing the bank, a plane took the thief to the Bahamas.” So the plane robbed a bank?
Corrected: “After robbing the bank, the thief flew to the Bahamas.”
“As a law-abiding citizen, red lights never get run when I’m around.” Red lights are law-abiding citizens?
Corrected: “As a law-abiding citizen, I never run red lights.”
“The stranger in the ugly coat I honked at turned out to be my traffic court judge, so I later regretted being rude.” She honked at the ugly coat?
Corrected: “I honked at a stranger in an ugly coat, but I later regretted being rude because he turned out to be my traffic court judge.”
If you find some misplaced modifiers in your writing, send them in to the comments. Examples are fun.
Julaina Kleist-Corwin 