Misplaced Modifiers: Definition and Examples

A modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that describes, defines, or qualifies something else in a
sentence.

Modifiers include descriptive words such as adjectives and adverbs:

 She always listened attentively in class.

 She decided to buy the blue vintage Cadillac.

Modifiers can also be phrases or clauses:

 Anna smiled when she walked past the bar where she met her husband.
 Having received a promotion at work, he went out to buy a bottle of champagne.

The most common modifier mistakes are dangling modifiers and misplaced modifiers. Both
terms refer to modifiers that are connected to the wrong thing in a sentence.

A misplaced modifier is too far away from the thing it’s supposed to modify, while a dangling
modifier’s intended subject is missing from the sentence altogether.

What is a misplaced modifier?

A misplaced modifier is a modifier that is positioned too far away from the word, phrase or
clause it is intended to modify and, as a result, appears to be modifying something else.

A misplaced modifier can be fixed by moving it so that it is connected to the right subject.

Misplaced Corrected

 The waiter presented a steak to the  The waiter presented a medium-

guest that was medium rare. rare steak to the guest.
 The waiter presented a steak that was
medium rare to the guest.

In this example, the misplaced modifier implies that the guest was medium rare. Moving the
modifier correctly indicates that it was the steak that was medium rare.

- A misplaced modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that is separated from the word it

describes, creating confusion and ambiguity. For example, if you say purple women’s shoes,
 it sounds like the women are purple, not the shoes. In this case, purple is the misplaced

modifier.

- Dangling modifiers describe a word or phrase that is not included in the sentence.

Misplaced modifiers describe a word or phrase that is in the sentence, but in the wrong

place. Example: Walking toward the forest, the sun began to set. (In this example, “walking

toward the forest” is a dangling modifier since it sounds as if the sun is walking toward the

forest.) Revision: Walking toward the forest, I watched as the sun began to set. (The actor,

I, is named as the subject of the sentence.)

Misplaced modifier vs. dangling modifier

Misplaced modifiers are closely related to another common grammar mistake, dangling

modifiers. Like the name suggests, dangling modifiers are also incorrectly used modifiers. The

main difference between misplaced modifiers and dangling modifiers is whether the word

they’re supposed to describe is in the sentence.

 Dangling modifiers describe a word or phrase that is not included in the sentence.

 Misplaced modifiers describe a word or phrase that is in the sentence, but in the wrong

place.

Let’s look at some dangling modifier and misplaced modifier examples to clear things up. Here’s

an example of a dangling modifier:

Happy that school was over, the afternoon was quite relaxing.

Now, let’s look at a similar misplaced modifier example:

Happy that school was over, the afternoon was quite relaxing for the students.

With the dangling modifier, the word students isn’t in the sentence. With the misplaced

modifier, the word it describes is there, but in the wrong place.

In both cases, you can fix the problem by placing the modifier next to the word or phrase it

describes.
Happy that school was over, the students thought the afternoon was quite relaxing.

How to fix misplaced modifiers

To fix a misplaced modifier in your writing, you simply have to rearrange the words in a

sentence. Remember, modifiers are supposed to appear next to the words they describe, so

just move a misplaced modifier before or after the right word.

Adjective modifiers

There’s nothing like a chocolate cone of ice cream on a hot day.

There’s nothing like a cone of chocolate ice cream on a hot day.

Adverb modifiers

We glued together the vase we broke quietly.

We quietly glued together the vase we broke.

Phrase modifiers

My uncle had to see a doctor with indigestion.

My uncle with indigestion had to see a doctor.

Clause modifiers

Our food stayed in the bag while it was hot.

While it was hot, our food stayed in the bag.