dangling modifiers
Unattached descriptive phrases
A dangling modifier is a descriptive phrase that doesn't clearly connect to the word it's meant to modify: Walking down the street, the trees were beautiful leaves unclear who was walking.
The phrase "dangles" because its intended subject is missing or misplaced.
Careful writers restructure such sentences to make the connection explicit: Walking down the street, I noticed the beautiful trees.
- misplacedPut in wrong location
- rewriteRevise text substantially
- participialOf a verb-based modifier
- awkward phrasingInelegant language construction
- embedded clausesSentences nested in sentences
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