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Misplaced Modifier
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What Is a Misplaced Modifier? (with Examples)
A misplaced modifier is a word (or group of words) that does not link clearly to what it is intended to modify. A misplaced modifier makes the meaning of a sentence ambiguous or wrong.Easy Examples of Misplaced Modifiers
In these examples, the misplaced modifiers are shaded:- Lee only eats cakes.
- Talking quickly annoys people.
- Having read your letter, my parrot has since died.

Real-Life Examples of Misplaced Modifiers
- We will not sell paraffin to anyone in glass bottles.
- Andrew said after the holiday he intends to stop drinking.
- Meticulous and punctual, her work ethic is admirable.
Misplaced Modifiers in Jokes
Probably the most famous example of a misplaced modifier turns out not to be a misplaced modifier at all.- One morning I shot an elephant in my pyjamas. How he got into my pyjamas I'll never know. (Writer and comedian Groucho Marx) (This is not a misplaced modifier because the elephant was actually in his pyjamas.)
- "He was a hero at his last police station. He once shot a robber with a Kalashnikov."
- "Great, where did he get that?"
Why Misplaced Modifiers Are Important
A misplaced modifier makes your sentence ambiguous or wrong. You can avoid a misplaced modifier by placing your modifier next to whatever it's modifying (or putting some distance between the modifier and whatever it's not meant to be modifying).Let's fix the examples above. In the corrected examples, the modifiers are shaded and the words being modified are bold.
- Lee only eats cakes.
- Lee eats only cakes.
- We will not sell paraffin to anyone in glass bottles.
- We will not sell paraffin in glass bottles to anyone.
- Talking quickly annoys people.
- Talking quickly is a sure way to annoy people.
- Andrew said after the holiday he intends to stop drinking.
- After the holiday, Andrew said that he intends to stop drinking.
- Having read your letter, my parrot has since died.
- Having read your letter, I would like to inform you that my parrot has since died.
- Meticulous and punctual, her work ethic is admirable.
- Meticulous and punctual, Jill has an admirable work ethic.
Beware Author Blindness!
It is sometimes difficult for writers to spot their own misplaced modifiers because they know what they meant to say, and they do not see the ambiguity. This is called author blindness. Look at these two examples. They are both correct, but they have very different meanings.- He lost nearly $5,000 in Las Vegas. (This means he lost just under $5,000.)
- He nearly lost $5,000 in Las Vegas. (Here, we don't know how much he lost. He might have lost nothing at all.)
Key Point
- Put your modifier next to whatever it's modifying and far from whatever it feasibly could be modifying.
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