D

Dangling modifiers

A dangling modifier is a word or word phrase modifying a word that is not made clear. The expression of an action must be identified clearly in order for an expression to be understood.

Examples of dangling modifiers:

After finishing the draft of the report, it was turned in.

Having entered the department, work assignments were given out.

In the first example, it is not clear who took the action of turning in the report. “After finishing” is a dangling modifier because it lacks identification. In the second example, “Having entered” is similarly lefty unassigned.

Corrected sentences:

After finishing the draft of the report, I turned it in.

Having entered the department, our manager gave out work assignments.

To correct a ...

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