Sentence Modifiers

Misplaced/Dangling Modifiers

7th Grade ELA

What is a Modifier?

A modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that adds description to a sentence.

​Write the following sentences and identify the modifiers.

1. My brother bought a white shirt for me.
2. I slowly ate the pizza.
3. The women in the long dress came to see you.
4. We met the man who painted your house.

Multiple Choice

What is the modifier in the following sentence?

My brother bought a white shirt for me.

• brother

• bought

• shirt

• white

Multiple Choice

What is the modifier in the following sentence?

I slowly ate the pizza.

• I

• slowly

• ate

• the pizza

Multiple Choice

What is the modifier in the following sentence?

The women in the long dress came to see you.

• The women

• in the long dress

• came

• to see you

Multiple Choice

What is the modifier in the following sentence?

We met the man who painted your house.

• We

• met

• the man

• who painted your house

What is a Modifier?

A modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that adds description to a sentence.

​Write the following sentences and identify the modifiers.

1. My brother bought a white shirt for me.
2. I slowly ate the pizza.
3. The women in the long dress came to see you.
4. We met the man who painted your house.

Sometimes, a writer places a modifier too far away from the word it should describe. This creates a misplaced modifier.

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Misplaced Modifiers

1. The women came to see you in a long dress.

   The women in a long dress came to see you.

2. The girl watched the dogs play in pajamas.

   The girl in pajamas watched the dogs play.

3. Jenny saw a pink house walking down the street.

   Walking down the street, Jenny saw a pink house.

Multiple Choice

What is a misplaced modifier?

• A modifier that is not close to the word it describes

• A modifier that is close to the word it describes

• A modifier that is missing from the sentence

Multiple Select

Which of the following sentences have a misplaced modifier?

• This morning, I saw a man walking his dog on the phone.

• The woman in the red dress is my mother.

• The woman wore a ring on her finger made of gold.

• The students bought a watch made of gold.

Multiple Choice

Which sentence contains a misplaced modifier?

• The cowboy in the leather vest was thrown by the bull.

• The train station which was made of red brick was located downtown.

• She was making a sweater for her grandma that was warm.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following sentences is the corrected version of the following sentence?

This morning, I saw a man walking his dog on the phone.

• This morning, I saw a man walking his on the phone dog .

• This morning, I saw a man on the phone walking his dog.

• This morning, I saw a man walking his dog on the phone.

This happens when the word a modifier is describing is completely missing from the sentence.

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This creates confusion for the reader

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Dangling Modifiers

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Examples of Dangling Modifiers

​DANGLING: Fumbling in her purse, the keys could not be found.

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CORRECT: ​ Fumbling in her purse, she could not find her keys.

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DANGLING: While driving to work​, a car accident was witnessed on the highway.

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CORRECT: While driving to work, Nicholas witnessed a car accident on the highway. ​

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Multiple Choice

What is a dangling modifier?

• A modifier that does not have a word to describe

• A modifier that is not close to to the word it describes

• A modifier that is at the end of a sentence

Multiple Choice

Which sentence contains a dangling modifier?

• Because he injured his hand, John had difficulty typing the essay.

• To become a good dentist, you must clean, fill, and file many teeth.

• Having finished the assignment, the TV was turned on.

Practice

Time!

Multiple Choice

What's wrong with the modifier in this sentence?

Tapping the pencil on the edge of the desk, the answer

to the test question would not come to mind.

• We don't know who was tapping the pencil.

• It sounds like the pencil was trying to think of the answer.

• It sounds like the answer was tapping the pencil on the desk.