Misplaced modifiers are exactly what they sound like...words that are meant to modify a noun, but have been misplaced, resulting in them accidentally modifying the wrong noun. Modifiers should almost always go next to the noun they're meant to modify. When they're misplaced, meaning is lost and the sentence often no longer makes logical sense.
For instance, you wouldn't say you want the blue woman's parka because the woman probably isn't blue. You want the woman's blue parka. You also wouldn't say that the man sat in the chair reading the book, because the chair isn't reading the book. The man who sat in the chair is the one reading the book. The misplaced words in these instances changed perfectly good sentences to sentences that don't make a lot of sense (unless you know a blue woman or a chair that reads).
No comments:
Post a Comment