Sentence Fluency: Avoid Misplaced Modifiers

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

• When you were younger, did you ever sing silly kids' songs like "Down by the Bay"?

It is a rather foolish song because you would never see animals like those in the song doing those things.

• A whale with a polka-dot tail?

That would be silly. However, when you write, you might put your modifiers in the wrong place, so the sentence does not make sense. It is essential to communicate well, so you must have your modifiers in the correct place.

• What is a modifier, anyway?

A modifier is a word or phrase in a sentence that describes another word in the sentence. It can be an adjective, an adverb, a participial phrase, or a prepositional phrase.

If you do not put them next to the word they describe, the person reading the sentence might get a completely different understanding of the sentence than you intended.

As you watch the video below, write down the answers to these questions.

• What is a modifier?
• Why is it essential for the modifier to be in the right place?
• What terms are used to describe misplaced modifier problems?

Read the sentence below and see if the modifiers are in the correct location.

The bedroom is kept ready for guests upstairs.

The modifier in this sentence is the word upstairs. When you place upstairs next to the noun guests, it appears that you are referring to upstairs guests rather than the upstairs bedroom.

The correct placement for the word is after the word bedroom.

The bedroom upstairs is kept ready for guests.

Misplaced modifiers are found in writing and conversation. Try to think of ways a misplaced modifier could lead to a major misunderstanding.

Practice finding misplaced modifiers in the Got It? section.