Apedia

Tree Dangling Modifier Driving Greenwood Avenue Yesterday Afternoon

Front fix this dangling modifier

While driving on Greenwood Avenue yesterday afternoon, a tree began to fall toward Wendy H's car. 
Back
add an extra word to clarify subjects. It works because the problem with dangling modifiers is that it has words left out that leave the meaning dangling.

While Wendy H was driving on Greenwood Avenue yesterday afternoon, a tree began to fall toward her car.

(before editing it sounds like the tree was driving! This actually appeared in a newspaper article. An alert reader wrote, "Is the Department of Motor Vehicles branching out and issuing licenses to hardwoods? Have they taken leaf of their senses?")

elegant rule:  A participial phrase at the beginning of a sentence must refer to the grammatical subject.
(a tree was the grammatical subject above so we transformed the dangling modifier into a clause)

more:

Incorrect: Lying on a stretcher, they carried the patient out of the room.
Correct: Lying on a stretcher, the patient was carried out of the room

Tags: grammar

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