Summary
Using modifiers can really liven up your writing. Adjectives, adverbs, and descriptive phrases add distinctive details and help your words paint vivid pictures. But, you have to be careful about where you position them. Placing them in the wrong spot can lead to confusing, awkward, and sometimes even nonsensical sentences. In most instances, these positioning errors can be fixed by putting the modifier closer to the word it's modifying. Too much space between a modifier and what it's describing often compromises the clarity of your writing. Also, be aware of dangling and squinting modifiers. These special cases are just as common but correcting them requires you to rethink the entire structure of a sentence. Proper modifier placement will ensure that you mean what you say, and are saying exactly what you mean!
Viewer safety
Our rating is a quick teacher-to-teacher guide — preview before showing.
Teaching resources
Discussion questions
A few questions to talk through after watching Misplaced Modifiers:
- What is one new thing you learned about misplaced modifiers?
- Can you explain it to a partner in your own words?
- Where might you see this in the real world?
- What is one question you still have?
Quick work-a-long
Try it:
- Write one sentence explaining misplaced modifiers.
- Draw or give one example of your own.