SHSAT: Modifiers: put each description next to its target
Learn to fix dangling and misplaced modifiers, place only where it gives the intended meaning, and avoid double negatives.
How can you tell when a describing phrase is attached to the wrong word?
Short answer
An opening phrase describes the subject right after the comma, and other describing phrases attach to the nearest noun. Move the phrase or change the subject so the description lands on what it is meant to describe.
Know first: Subjects of sentences, Phrases that begin with -ing or -ed words
Step 1 of 5
An opening phrase describes the subject that follows
A modifier is a word or phrase that describes something. When a sentence opens with a phrase like Walking to school or Covered in mud, the reader assumes it describes the subject that comes right after the comma.
If that subject can't do the action, the modifier is dangling: Walking to school, the rain started. The rain wasn't walking. To fix it, make the subject the person or thing that actually does the action.
Wrong: Walking to school, the rain started.
Right: Walking to school, we felt the rain start.
Only people can walk to school, so the subject after the comma has to be a person.
| Problem | Wrong | Right |
|---|---|---|
| Phrase far from its target | She served pancakes to the guests covered in syrup. | She served the guests pancakes covered in syrup. |
| Only in the wrong spot (meaning: just one dish) | Leon only cooked the soup. | Leon cooked only the soup. |
| Double negative | We hardly had no time. | We hardly had any time. |
Only, just and almost limit the word right after them. Hardly and scarcely already work as negatives, so they never pair with no or not.
Step 2 of 5
Fix the subject, not just the wording
Worked example: A dangling opening phrase
Which revision makes clear that Pedro was the one running? “Racing to catch the bus, Pedro's backpack strap snapped.”
- ARacing to catch the bus, the strap on Pedro's backpack snapped.
- BRacing to catch the bus, Pedro felt his backpack strap snap.
- CPedro's backpack strap, racing to catch the bus, snapped.
- DRacing to catch the bus, the backpack of Pedro had a snapped strap.
- 1
Ask who is racing
Pedro is racing, not his strap.
- 2
Check the first noun after the comma
In the draft, it is Pedro's backpack strap. A possessive like Pedro's doesn't count; the subject is strap.
- 3
Find the fix
Only B puts Pedro right after the comma as the subject.
- 4
See why the others are there
A and D keep the strap or the backpack as the subject, just reworded. C moves the phrase but still says the strap was racing.
Answer
B. Racing to catch the bus, Pedro felt his backpack strap snap.
Find the wrong step
The writer means that on Monday Ivy went to the museum and to no other place. A student revises Ivy visited the museum on Monday.
- 1
Decides the sentence needs only to show that the museum was her single stop.
- 2
Places only right before visited: Ivy only visited the museum on Monday.
What went wrong
Only visited limits the action. It suggests she visited and did nothing else there, which is a different meaning.
- 3
Checks that the sentence is still grammatical and moves on.
The fix
Put only right before what it limits: On Monday, Ivy visited only the museum.
Step 3 of 5
Place every modifier on purpose
Check yourself · Question 1
Which revision removes the misplaced modifier? “The clerk handed a receipt to the customer printed on blue paper.”
Answer: B
Printed on blue paper describes the receipt, so it has to sit right next to receipt.
Check yourself · Question 2
The writer means that everyone in the band except Tariq played at the concert. Which sentence says this?
Answer: D
But here means except, which leaves Tariq out.
Check yourself · Question 3
Which sentence avoids a dangling modifier?
Answer: C
Mia finished the puzzle, and she is the first noun after the comma.
Trap answer: After finishing the puzzle, the pieces were put back in the box.
Grammatical but still dangling
- Why it looks right
- The sentence reads smoothly, and the passive voice sounds formal.
- Why it's wrong
- The subject after the comma is pieces, and pieces can't finish a puzzle. The person who finished it never appears.
- The right answer
- The choice with Mia names the person who finished the puzzle right after the comma.
Common mistake
I fixed the dangling modifier by rewording the second half without changing its subject.
- Why it's tempting
- Choices that move words around look like real revisions.
- Do this instead
- Find the first noun after the comma in each choice. If it isn't the person or thing doing the opening action, the modifier still dangles.
Step 4 of 5
What to remember
Remember
- An opening phrase describes the first noun after the comma, so that noun must be able to do the action.
- Put describing phrases and limiting words like only right next to what they describe.
- Never pair hardly or scarcely with another negative.
Step 5 of 5
Practice on a real question
Use what you just learned on this question, then check the explanation.
In your own words
In the practice question, who was actually doing the opening action, and what was the first noun after the comma in the draft?