Review exercise: Fixing misplaced modifiers

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On a separate sheet of paper, rewrite each sentence to eliminate misplaced modifiers. Then compare your answer with the samples provided.

1. Running quickly gives her a headache.

Answer

Question:
Running quickly gives her a headache.
Answer:

Running fast gives her a headache.

OR

Soon after she starts running, she gets a headache.

2. Although tired, the sale was so good that we shopped until the mall closed.

Answer

Question:
Although tired, the sale was so good that we shopped until the mall closed.
Answer:

Although tired, we shopped at the sale until the mall closed.

OR

Although we were tired, the sale was so good that we shopped until the mall closed.

OR THIS

The sale was so good that we shopped until the mall closed, even though we were tired.

3. Raging and blowing from the north, we had a terrible blizzard on Saturday.

Answer

Question:
Raging and blowing from the north, we had a terrible blizzard on Saturday.
Answer:

Raging and blowing from the north, the blizzard on Saturday was terrible.

OR

On Saturday we had a terrible blizzard that raged and blew from the north.

4. I gave my niece a photo of her golden retriever in a silver frame.

Answer

Question:
I gave my niece a photo of her golden retriever in a silver frame.
Answer:
I gave my niece a silver-framed photo of her golden retriever.

5. To be considered by the top firms, your résumé must look professional.

Answer

Question:
To be considered by the top firms, your résumé must look professional.
Answer:

To be considered by the top firms, you must have a professional-looking résumé.

OR

You must have a professional-looking résumé to be considered by the top firms.

Note that the sentence Your résumé must look professional to be considered by the top firms still contains a dangling modifier. Placed at the end of the sentence, the phrase to be considered by the top firms still illogically modifies the noun résumé.

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© Department of English, Faculty of Arts, University of Ottawa
A tool made available online by the Translation Bureau, Public Services and Procurement Canada

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