4.

Dangling Modifiers
 A dangling modifier is a phrase or clause which says
something different from what is meant because words
are left out.
 It is not clearly and logically related to the words it
modifies.
 A modifier that opens a sentence must be followed
immediately by the word it is meant to describe.
 Dangling modifiers create confusion.
 To avoid dangling modifiers, make sure that each
modifier has a clear antecedent.
Example
Dangling: Driving through the town, three lions were seen.
Correct: Driving through the town, Helen saw three lions.
Dangling: Flood damage was visible crossing the river.
• [The modifier makes it sound as though the flood damage was
crossing the river.]
Correct: Flood damage was visible as we cross the river.
Dangling: Taking the exam, the room was so stuffy that Paula almost
fainted. (Who took the exam? The answer is not room but Paula.
The subject Paula must be added.
Correct: Taking the exam, Paula found the room so stuffy that she
almost fainted.
There are two ways to revise dangling modifiers:
1. Add a word or words that the modifier clearly describes.
Place the new material just after the modifier.
Dangling: While watching television the cake burned.
Correct: While watching the television Sarah burned the
cake.
2. Change the dangling modifier to a subordinate clause.
Dangling: While watching television the cake burned.
Correct: While Sarah was watching television, the cake
burned.
 5. Misplaced Modifiers
 A misplaced modifier is simply a word, a phrase, or a
clause describing something, but not placed near enough
to the word it is supposed to modify.
 Misplaced modifiers, because of awkward placement, do
not describe the words the writer intended to describe.
 Often confuse the meaning of the sentence.
Example
 Misplaced: I saw a dress in a magazine that cost $ 1200.
[Did the magazine or the dress cost $1200?]
 Correct: In a magazine, I saw a dress that cost $ 1200.
Kinds of Misplaced Modifiers
i. Misplaced adjectives
 These are incorrectly separated from the nouns they modify and
almost always distort the intended meaning.
Misplaced adjective: The child ate a cold dish of cereal for breakfast
this morning.
Correct: The child ate a dish of cold cereal for breakfast this morning.
ii. Placement of adverbs
Example:
 Just Kasa was picked to host the program.
(Only Kasa was picked, no one else.)
 Kasa was just to host the program. (Kasa was picked now.)
 Kasa was to host just the program.
(Kasa hosted only the program, nothing else.)
 Each of these sentences says something logical but quite different,
and its correctness depends upon what the writer has in mind.
iii. Misplaced phrases
Example
Misplaced phrase: They saw a fence behind the house made of
barbed wire.
Correct: They saw a fence made of barbed wire behind the house.
iv. Misplaced clauses
Misplaced clause: The waiter served a dinner roll to the woman that
was well buttered.
Correct: The waiter served a dinner roll that was well buttered to the
woman
 To avoid misplaced modifiers in general, be sure to place the
modifier immediately before or after the word or words it
modifies, or
 To avoid them, place words as close as possible to what they
describe.
 Caution!
 In correcting a misplaced modifier, don’t create a
sentence with two possible meanings.
 Example: The teacher said on Monday she will return
our essay.
 a. The teacher said she will return our essay on Monday.
(The essay will be returned on Monday.)
 b. On Monday the teacher said she will return our essay.
(The teacher spoke on Monday.)
To Sum up
 Here are some tips to help you avoid misplaced
modifiers:
 Check to see if your modifiers are close to the subject
they are referring to.
 Be careful with the placement of limiting modifiers
(almost, even, hardly, just, merely, nearly, and simply).
 These modifiers must be placed right next to the words
they modify.
 Check to see if modifiers that describe verbs are close to
the verbs.
6. Agreement Errors
 A verb must agree with its subject in number.
 A subject that refers to one person, place, or
thing is called a singular subject.
 A subject that refers to more than one thing is
called a plural subject.
 A singular subject must be used with a singular
verb.
My brother wants to go jog with me.
 A plural subject must be used with a plural verb.
My brothers want to go jogging with me.
Mistakes to Watch for:
 Subject-verb agreement errors often occur in the following
situations:
1. with compound subjects (two or more subjects)
Incorrect: Samuel and Sarah wants to buy a car.
Correct: Samuel and Sarah want to buy a car.
2. when the verb comes before the subject
Incorrect: There is four gas stations on the main street.
Correct: There are four gas stations on the main street.
3. when a word or phrase comes between the subject and the verb.
Incorrect: The woman standing in the waves with the other
swimmers win a prize for her endurance.

Correct: The woman standing in the waves with the other

swimmers wins a prize for her endurance.
4. with indefinite pronouns: treat the pronoun as
singular if it refers to something that cannot be
counted. Treat the pronoun as plural if it refers to
more than one of something that can be counted.
Incorrect: Everybody wish to become a millionaire.
Correct: Everybody wishes to become a millionaire.
7. Faulty Parallelism
 Parallelism means that words, phrases or clauses in a series
should have similar grammatical form.
 Keeping corresponding parts of a sentence parallel in structure
and length will make your writing clearer and easier to read or
understand.
Items to be parallel in a sentence:
1. Words in series: When two or more nouns, verbs, or adjectives
appear together in a sentence, they should be parallel in
grammatical form. Verbs should be in the same tense.
Incorrect: All night long the music from the next apartment was
banging, thumping, and pounded so loudly that I couldn’t sleep.
Correct: All night long the music from the next apartment banged,
thumped, and pounded so loudly that I couldn’t sleep.
2. Phrases
Incorrect: His sister likes wearing crazy hats, dressing
in funky clothes, and to go to classic music.
Correct: My sister likes wearing crazy hats, dressing in
funky clothes, and going to classic music.
3. Clauses
 Incorrect: While Almaz studied Math and worked
on Psychology, her husband was watching the baby.
 Correct: While Almaz studied Math and worked on
Psychology, her husband watched the baby.
 Diction
 Diction is the use and choice of words.
 Words that you choose should be appropriate for your audience and
express your meaning clearly.
 The following suggestions will help you improve your diction:
1. Avoid slang. Slang refers to the informal, special expressions
created and used by groups of people who want to give themselves
unique identity.
Slang is appropriate and useful way to communicate in some social
situations and in some forms of creative writing.
However, it is not appropriate for academic or career writing.
Slang: We pigged out at the ice cream shop.
Revised: We consumed enormous quantities of ice cream at the
ice cream shop.
2. Avoid colloquial language.
 Colloquial language refers to casual, every day, and
spoken language.
 It should be avoided in formal situations.
Colloquial: I almost flunked Bio last sem.
Revised: I almost failed in Biology last semester.
3. Avoid nonstandard language.
 Non-standard language consists of words and
grammatical forms that are used in conversation but
are neither correct nor acceptable standard written
English.
4. Avoid trite expressions.
 Trite expressions are old, worn out word and
phrases that have become stale and do not
convey meaning as effectively as possible.
 These expressions are also called clichés.
Trite expressions
• Needle in a hay sadder but wiser As old as the hill
• Hard as a rock white as a snow Pretty as a picture
• Face the music gentle as a lamb
 Sentence Variety
 Sentence variety means assorted sentence patterns, lengths, and
rhythms.
 It gives your writing better rhythm and flow; it makes your writing
more mature.
 Good writers use a variety of sentence structures to avoid
wordiness and monotony and to show relationships among
thoughts.
 To achieve sentence variety, one does not have to use all simple
sentences or complex or compound sentences, and again, one does
not have to begin or end all sentences in the same way.
 Instead, one has to vary the length; the amount of detail and the
structures of one’s sentences.
 How to Use Sentence Variety

1. Use sentences of various lengths (Don’t use all simple

sentences). This makes your writing choppy.
Choppy: We went to the movies. We went out to eat. We came
home. We went to bed.
2. Avoid stringing simple sentences together with coordinating
conjunctions (and, but, or, and so on).
 Instead, one has to use some introductory participial phrases.
Simple: There was a long queue at the bakery, so Samson
decided to leave.
Varied: Seeing the long queue at the bakery, Samson decided to
leave.
3. Begin some sentences with a prepositional phrase
Example: During the concert, the fire alarm rang.
Inside the theatre, the crowd waited expectantly.
4. Begin some sentences with a present or past participle
(cooking, eating, tired, informed)
Example: Singing and dancing, the Greece expressed their joy.
• Still laughing, two girls left the movie.
• Slapped and pushed, the thief fell into the ditch.
5. Begin some sentences with adverbs.
• Angrily, the guard slammed the gate shut.
• Patiently, the father advised the boy.
6. Begin some sentences with infinitive phrases (‘to’ plus the
infinitive form; to make, to go, to prepare, to eat etc.)
Example: To make a lot of profit, the merchant labored a lot.
 To develop their writing skill, students practiced writing a lot.
 To get break fast ready on time, I set my alarm for 7 A.M.
7. Begin some sentences with a dependent clause introduced by
subordinating conjunctions.
 Because I studied hard, I managed to pass the exam.
 Provided that the company pays all the money, the workers are
ready to resume their work.
8. Begin sentences with a conjunctive adverb.
Consequently, we decided to have fried meat for lunch.