DANGLING AND

MISPLACED
MODIFIERS
• A dangling modifier does not logically modify any word in the
sentence in which it appears.
Consider the following sentences:
• Moving along in the dark, the flashlight shone into the corner.
• Following the trail closely, the herd of elephants was located.
• Having emptied the ashtray into the trash, the garbage caught fire.
• Relaxing afterward, my anxieties vanished.
Corrected versions
• Moving along in the dark, the security man shone his flash light.
• Following the trail closely, the forest guards located the head of
elephants.
• Relaxing afterwards, I found my anxiety vanish.
Practice Exercise
• Talking on the phone, the earpiece pinched her ear.
• Beeping insistently, Sara reached for her phone.
• After working so hard, the test seemed easy.
• Swaying in the breeze, Jason marveled at the palm trees.
• Doing her homework, the cat distract Angel.
• I saw a dead body going to school.
• Singing in the shower, the shower door vibrated dangerously.
Misplaced Modifiers
A misplaced modifier is a modifier that is located wrongly in the
clause.
If the modifier is placed wrongly (usually at the end of the sentence)
the sentence sounds funny.
• E.g. James drank from his tea cup in pajamas.
• Allan did the work with a lackadaisical attitude.
• The clown gave the lady a flower with a red nose.
• She laughed at the elephant with tears rolling down.
• She ran to the plane wearing high-heeled shoes.
• Corrected versions
• In pajamas, James drank from his tea cup.
• With a lackadaisical attitude, Allan did the work.
• The clown with a red nose gave the lady a flower.
• With tears rolling down, she laughed at the elephant.
• Wearing high-heeled shoes, she ran to the plane
COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES
Mot adjectives admit of the three degrees of comparison.
• Positive
Equality is expressed by the positive degree
e.g. Henry is as tall as his father.
• Comparative
Superiority is expressed by the comparative degree.
e.g. Amina is older than her brother
Superlative
Supremacy is expressed by the superlative degree.
e.g. That was the happiest day in his life.
Irregular Comparisons
A number of adjectives are irregular in their comparison.
Positive Comparative Superlative
Good (well) better best
Bad (ill) worse worst
Little less (lesser) least
Much (many) more most
Far farther (further) farthest (furthest)
Old older (elder) oldest (eldest)
Adjectives not admitting of comparison
Some adjectives on account of their meaning do not admit of
comparison.
These include:
• perfect round
• unique circular
• matchless wooden
• full monthly
• empty daily etc
• square
Double Comparatives
Double comparatives describe a cause- and –effect process.
• The more education women get, the later they marry.
• The better the quality of health care (is) the higher the life expectancy
(is).
• The more you study, the more you learn.
• The faster the car is, the more dangerous it is to drive.
• The less Maggie thinks about the problem, the more relaxed she feels.
• The more students study for the test, the higher the scores will be.
Double comparatives can also be turned into commands in the
imperative form when recommending certain actions:
• Play less, study more.
• Work more, save more.
• Think harder, get smarter.
Format of the double comparative
The (more / less) + (noun / noun phrase) subject + verb + , + the
(more / less) + (noun) subject + verb
•The less money I spend, the less I have to worry about saving.
•The less you worry about the others, the less they will bother you.
Double comparatives with 'more' and 'less' can be used
with adjectives in the same way. In this case, the structure places the
comparative adjective first:
•The easier the test is, the longer students will wait to prepare.
•The faster the car is, the more dangerous it is to drive.
•The crazier the idea is, the more fun it is to try.
Incorrect usage of double comparatives
• This wine is more tastier than that in the bottle.
• She is more funnier than Tom is.
• Alexander is more taller than Franklin.
• She is a more better option than her brother.
• Pipe borne water is more clearer than river water.
Practice Exercise
Use the following sentence segments to create double comparatives
of your own.
• severe / judge , harsh /sentence
• Long/play, bored/audience
• Money/spend, money /save
• people / come / party , food / we / need
• nice / customer service representative / happy / customer
Repeated Comparisons
Repeated comparisons are used to describe things that are increasing
or decreasing.
• The birth-rate is getting lower and lower.
• More and more people are joining our party.
• Watch it; your daughter is growing bigger and bigger.
• The game is become interesting and interesting.
• It seems we have less and less time to spend.
Faulty/Incomplete comparison
Faulty comparison happens when the comparison is not complete or when the items
that are being compared are in different categories, like apples and oranges
• John’s bike is faster.
• The car he is driving looks like my father.
• She writes better than anyone in the class.
• Angel now weighs fifteen kilograms less.
• English lecturers often have more paperwork.
You need at least two elements to compare in a sentence.
The elements you are comparing must also be in the same category.
• John’s bike is faster than Kofi’s bike.
• The car he is driving looks like my father’s car.
• She writes better than anyone else in the class.
• Angel now weighs fifteen kilograms less than she weighed three
months ago.
• English lecturers often have more paperwork than lecturers in other
subjects.
Note:  If you are using adjectives that end in –er in the same list with
adjectives that use more, the adjectives that end in –er should be
listed before the adjectives that use more.
• Prose is simpler and more interesting for me than poetry.
• Her twin brother is smarter and more outgoing than she is.
• Spoken language is easier and less complex than written language.