Modifiers - Dangling, Misplaced, and Squinting

What is a modifier

• A confusing phrase

• A word, phrase, or clause that describes another word

• A grammatical mistake

• a misleading sentence

Jennifer quickly finished her homework after school. What is the word "quickly" modifying?

• Jennifer

• Homework

• Finished

• School

Which of the choices below is NOT a modifier in the following sentence? "My neighbor's friendly dog was swimming in the muddy creek next to my house."

• Was

• My neighbor's friendly

• muddy

• next to my house

Which of the following is true about misplaced modifiers? Choose two answers.

• They are too wordy

• They are too far from the word they modify

• They lead to confusion

• They cannot be fixed

A dangling modifier occurs when a modifier in a sentence is ______________________________ the word it modifies.

• close to

• missing

• describing

• far away from

Which of the following sentences has a misplaced modifier?

• I do my chores every day.

• First, we went to the grocery store on the other side of town.

• The young girl wanted to go on the carousel ride.

• I saw a goose on the way home from school.

Select the best choice to correct the sentence: The child playing on the jungle gym with fuzzy orange hair is my nephew.

• Delete "the child playing"

• Add "green" before "jungle gym"

• Move "with fuzzy orange hair" to after "child"

• No changes necessary

What is the problem with this sentence: Tired, the pillows were calling my name.

• The word that "tired" modifies is missing

• "tired" should be place right after "were"

• "tired" should go at the end of the sentence

• the verb is in the wrong place

Which sentence is written MOST clearly and correctly.

• In plastic cups, the children were served lemonade.

• He served lemonade to the children in plastic cups.

• He served lemonade in plastic cups to the children.

• He served in plastic cups lemonade to the children.

What's the problem with the sentence: While washing his brother's car, a scratch was discovered on the bumper.

• This is a misplaced modifier because it sounds like the scratch washed the brother's car. You only need to move the modifier after the verb "was discovered"

• This is a dangling modifier because it sounds like the scratch washed the brother's car. The word the modifier describes is missing.