Tighten your writin’: watch out for misplaced modifiers
Tighten Your Writin’ is an ongoing series dedicated to writing tips and best practices.
People value grammar for many different reasons. Some are purists: They think rules are rules, and they must be adhered to on principle. Others (like yours truly) are driven more by practicality: Many sentences that are grammatically incorrect are either misleading or confusing.
One mistake that really confuses readers is a misplaced modifier. Verbs and phrases need to be close to the nouns they modify for a reader to follow a sentence’s action. When they’re not, the meaning of the sentence changes completely.
There are many kinds of misplaced modifiers, but they all share one trait: They obscure a sentence’s meaning. For example, take the following real-life business situation.
Say you work for a business that’s a leader in the technology sector. You’re reviewing a press release, annual report, blog post, or some other copy about your firm’s success and thought leadership.
Here’s one sentence that could be written about your company, “Tech Company X”:
As a leader in the technology sector, Tech Company X is frequently asked for its views on the market.
In this example, “Tech Company X” is the “leader in the technology sector” and the subject of the sentence. Because “As the leader in the technology sector” and “Tech Company X” appear right next to each other, that relationship is obvious.
However, a lot of times I see a sentence that is trying to describe something analogous to the situation I put forth, but the sentence looks like this instead:
As a leader in the technology sector, reporters frequently ask Tech Company X for its views on the market.
Although we know — from our background knowledge and logical reasoning skills — that Tech Company X is the leader in the technology sector, the second construction makes it seem as though the reporters are.
Guiding rule: Modifiers need to be close to the things they’re modifying!
So how do you get rid of misplaced modifiers in your own writing? Read carefully, think logically, and look out for them when you’re editing your work. Know what you’re trying to say, and make sure every sentence is precise.
Make sense? Now you be the editor.
You Be the Editor
1. Misplaced modifier: As president of the hockey club, James is very upset by your actions of late.
Hint: James is not president of the hockey club.
2. Misplaced modifier: Even though she loved her cat, Fluffy was constantly irritating Alison by leaving hair on her clothes.
3. Misplaced modifier: As a great and influential mayor, I am honored to invite you to speak at our organization’s upcoming gala.
Hint: The speaker is not a mayor.