What is a dangling modifier? And how can you fix it?

The Dangling Modifier. A change-wreaking supervillain with a penchant for hanging upside down? Or maybe an editor suspended over a precipice on a rope? In fact, it’s an innocent grammatical bungle. Find out why dangling modifiers might be hampering your prose and what you can do to fix them.

Also known as a “hanging participle” or “illogical participle”, in simple terms, a dangling modifier is a phrase that is not properly attached to the rest of a sentence. Its position in the sentence means that it appears to modify a subject (noun) that it wasn’t intended to modify.

An opening phrase should refer to the first noun in the clause that follows. For example:

Hanging on to the rope for dear life, Sarah cast around for a foothold on the cliff face.

In the following example, the opening phrase is a dangling modifier, which leads to the absurd impression of an excitable car door:

Eager to begin the chase, the car door opened and Dr Villainous jumped in.

 Here are some other examples:

Galloping up the road, I saw the king’s horse prepare to jump the fence.

Grabbing hold of his hat, the dragon snarled at Master Golden.

Inside the princess’s tower, the fields were lit up by the setting sun.

To succeed, the challenges would have to be met with determination.

The star of the show, everyone wanted to get Rumpelstiltskin’s autograph.

A dangling modifier creates ambiguity or unintended meaning. The results can be confusing, nonsensical or unintentionally humorous, as witnessed in the examples above.

Dangling modifiers can often be linked to the use of the passive voice, which can be problematic in itself (see my blog post on Using the passive voice in fiction). In the following example, the main clause is written in the passive voice:

While walking to the chapel, a beacon was seen on the horizon.

There are a few approaches you can take to fix a dangling modifier, some of which are more elegant than others:

Terrified of being stranded, my backpack was filled with provisions and a first aid kit.

Solution 1: My backpack was filled with provisions and a first aid kit, as I was terrified of being stranded.

Solution 2: Since I was terrified of being stranded, my backpack was filled with provisions and a first aid kit.

Solution 3: Terrified of being stranded, I had filled my backpack with provisions and a first aid kit.

 In the first solution, the sentence has been flipped around and some additional words added for clarity. This works grammatically, though it does shift the focus from the character to the backpack.

In the second solution, clarification has been added to the opening phrase. However, the resulting sentence is somewhat awkward.

In the third solution, the sentence has been rearranged so that the right subject starts the main clause. This solution keeps the focus on the character.

If the sentence is written in the passive voice, you can simply recast the main clause in the active voice to eliminate the dangling modifier, as with our example from earlier:

While walking to the chapel, a beacon was seen on the horizon.

While walking to the chapel, Father Brownbeard saw a beacon on the horizon.

The solution you opt for will depend on which works best in the particular circumstances. Sometimes, the easiest thing to do is just to rewrite the entire sentence.

Now that you know what a dangling modifier is, you’ll see them everywhere. It’s one of the most common grammatical mistakes. Equipped with the knowledge from this article, you can make sure they don’t sow confusion and ambiguity in your own writing.

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