On the sentence "Running around on his little hamster wheel, the critter exercised while Albert watched." Can't you get confused by Albert could be another hamster watching?

Hm...very true. I guess that it really depends on the rest of the sentence.

Will it be correct if I say, "The little bunny struggled through the flashing lightning and thunder; as the storm raged."?

Writing that sentence in that order, you don’t actually need the semicolon.

Couldn't you just say, _The little bunny struggled through the storm that was flashing lightning and thunder_ ?

Yes, that would be a perfectly acceptable form, but it would not nearly as artful to read.

Is it incorrect to say," Marine biologist Carson's 1962 Silent Spring initiated the contemporary environmental movement and revealed the dangers of pesticides, which caused a sharp decline in bird population?"

I find no problem with that sentence. For clarity's sake, though, you might put the title of the book in Italics.

May I ask The answer to the example no.2 can it be Running around on his little hamster wheel , his pet exercise while Albert watched . Can it be like this ?

Yes, it can. You can rewrite the sentence any way you can, as long as the modifier is next to what it modifies. Although, I would caution against using "he" or another pronoun twice before introducing the noun, just because it can confuse readers.

statement is telling someone something

This is a strange place to make this answer. The lesson is about dangling modifiers. Are you sure you put it in the right place? You could always click on the word "more" and delete it.

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Grammar

Course: Grammar > Unit 9

Lesson 3: Dangling modifiers and parallel structure

Dangling modifiers

Name: Dangling modifiers
Uploaded: 2016-08-23T18:56:58Z
Description: A modifying word or phrase “dangles” when it doesn’t apply to the word it’s supposed to modify. Learn how to spot and fix this problem!

Google Classroom

A modifying word or phrase “dangles” when it doesn’t apply to the word it’s supposed to modify. Learn how to spot and fix this problem!

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Thomas Duvall
Posted 6 years ago. Direct link to Thomas Duvall's post “Would it be the same if i...”
Would it be the same if it had a fragment in it?
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SweetCake367
Posted 6 years ago. Direct link to SweetCake367's post “On the sentence "Running ...”
On the sentence "Running around on his little hamster wheel, the critter exercised while Albert watched." Can't you get confused by Albert could be another hamster watching?
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(8 votes)
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- 🌵 Lexi C. 🌵
  Posted 6 years ago. Direct link to 🌵 Lexi C. 🌵's post “Hm...very true. I guess t...”
  Hm...very true. I guess that it really depends on the rest of the sentence.
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  (6 votes)
Harshitha
Posted 2 years ago. Direct link to Harshitha's post “Will it be correct if I s...”
Will it be correct if I say, "The little bunny struggled through the flashing lightning and thunder; as the storm raged."?
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- Johanna
  Posted 2 years ago. Direct link to Johanna's post “Writing that sentence in ...”
  Writing that sentence in that order, you don’t actually need the semicolon.
  Comment on Johanna's post “Writing that sentence in ...”
  (5 votes)
Mariam Mohamed
Posted 3 years ago. Direct link to Mariam Mohamed's post “Is it incorrect to say," ...”
Is it incorrect to say," Marine biologist Carson's 1962 Silent Spring initiated the contemporary environmental movement and revealed the dangers of pesticides, which caused a sharp decline in bird population?"
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(4 votes)
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- David Alexander
  Posted 3 years ago. Direct link to David Alexander's post “I find no problem with th...”
  I find no problem with that sentence. For clarity's sake, though, you might put the title of the book in Italics.
  Comment on David Alexander's post “I find no problem with th...”
  (10 votes)
chenjannkaitlyn
Posted 3 years ago. Direct link to chenjannkaitlyn's post “May I ask The answer to t...”
May I ask The answer to the example no.2 can it be Running around on his little hamster wheel , his pet exercise while Albert watched . Can it be like this ?
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(3 votes)
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- Hecretary Bird
  Posted 3 years ago. Direct link to Hecretary Bird's post “Yes, it can. You can rewr...”
  Yes, it can. You can rewrite the sentence any way you can, as long as the modifier is next to what it modifies. Although, I would caution against using "he" or another pronoun twice before introducing the noun, just because it can confuse readers.
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  (6 votes)
ahmadfahrezi8127
Posted 3 years ago. Direct link to ahmadfahrezi8127's post “Is it incorrect to say, "...”
Is it incorrect to say, "The little bunny struggled through the flashing lightning and thundering storm."?

Or does this somewhat changes the initial meaning of the sentence?
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Swiftcloud♥
Posted 10 months ago. Direct link to Swiftcloud♥'s post “Couldn't you just say, _T...”
Couldn't you just say, The little bunny struggled through the storm that was flashing lightning and thunder ?
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(5 votes)
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- David Alexander
  Posted 10 months ago. Direct link to David Alexander's post “Yes, that would be a perf...”
  Yes, that would be a perfectly acceptable form, but it would not nearly as artful to read.
  Comment on David Alexander's post “Yes, that would be a perf...”
  (2 votes)
AidynW
Posted 2 years ago. Direct link to AidynW's post “It kinda feels like cause...”
It kinda feels like cause and effect to me
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(4 votes)
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iS-tea-ak .
Posted a year ago. Direct link to iS-tea-ak .'s post “Oh hi , i got this random...”
Oh hi , i got this random question all of sudden i dunno where to put it but im asking here , it about affixes .
Does suffix "tion" and "sion" makes any distinct-tion in word of meaning ? i think it does ! but i 'tripped' can't figure it out , could u help me !!.
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ashdogg_the_larner
Posted 8 months ago. Direct link to ashdogg_the_larner's post “statement is telling some...”
statement is telling someone something
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(2 votes)
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- David Alexander
  Posted 8 months ago. Direct link to David Alexander's post “This is a strange place t...”
  This is a strange place to make this answer. The lesson is about dangling modifiers. Are you sure you put it in the right place? You could always click on the word "more" and delete it.
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  (3 votes)

Video transcript

- [Voiceover] Hello grammarians, hello Rosie. - [Voiceover] Hi Paige. - [Voiceover] So in this video we're gonna talk about something called a dangling modifier. So, before we get in to what a dangling modifier is, we can sort of talk about just what a modifier is. Rosie, do want to tell us what the definition of a modifier is? - [Voiceover] Sure, so, well one major modifier that you think of is an adjective. So a lot of times a modifier is describing something else in the sentence. - [Voiceover] Right, okay. So it can be an adjective or like a, - [Voiceover] An adverb - [Voiceover] A phrase, yeah an adverb too. So a modifier is always supposed to come right before the word or phrase that it's modifying. But when it doesn't do that, that's what's called a dangling modifier. - [Voiceover] So this can look something like, Flashing lightning and thunder, the little bunny struggled through the storm. - [Voiceover] So this sentence has a dangling modifier, and the modifier in question is, flashing lightning and thunder. So the phrase that this comes right before is, the little bunny. And flashing lightning and thunder is not describing the little bunny, right. I don't think I've ever seen a bunny with like, lightning coming out of it or anything. - [Voiceover] Rosie what is this modifier actually supposed to be modifying? - [Voiceover] So, the modifier is actually supposed to be modifying the storm. Because we've got lightning and thunder, flashing, all of those things describe the storm. - [Voiceover] Right, okay, so, we're really not supposed to have a dangling modifier like this so we need to fix this sentence. - [Voiceover] Flashing lightning and thunder, the storm raged as the bunny struggled. - [Voiceover] So this is all better, the modifier, flashing lightning and thunder, comes right before the storm, now. - [Voiceover] Right. - [Voiceover] So, this makes more sense. We got rid of the dangling modifier, it's not you know, hanging out, looking like it's modifying the wrong noun. - [Voiceover] So if you're doing editing, or you're looking at a sentence, when you take a look at a sentence, see if you can spot what it is that that modifier is supposed to be describing. And then just make sure that that noun or phrase comes right after the modifier. [Voiceover] Right, like in this example we had to pretty much completely rewrite this sentence. It still gets across the same idea, but we had to put the nouns in a different order so the modifier wasn't dangling any more. - [Voiceover] Running around on his little hamster wheel, Albert watched his pet exercise. (laughing) - [Voiceover] This whole part, running around on his little hamster wheel, is the modifier in the sentence, but what comes right after it, is Albert, which I don't think he's the one running around on a little hamster wheel. - [Voiceover] Right so, this is something you want to look out for, and maybe rewrite your sentence so that doesn't happen. - [Voiceover] Right and we have a clue that Albert is not the name of the hamster or the pet, because it says Albert watched his pet exercise. So we have a good clue that Albert is probably a human, and he's probably not running on a hamster wheel. (laughing) - [Voiceover] Right? - [Voiceover] So he shouldn't be coming right after that, that modifier. - [Voiceover] Yeah, exactly. - [Voiceover] Running around on his little hamster wheel, the critter exercised while Albert watched. - [Voiceover] Right, so this is how we made our change. We still have running around on his little hamster wheel at the beginning, but then we sort of, switched around the order of Albert and his pet. So now we have the critter following the modifier that it's supposed to be modified by. - [Voiceover] Right. - [Voiceover] Yeah so like, that is dangling modifiers, and how you get rid of them. They're words or phrases that describe another word or phrase, and when they're dangling they're like in the wrong place, they're in front of the wrong noun. - [Voiceover] So, when you have a modifier at the beginning of your sentence, and it's set off with a comma, like all of these are, that's when you have to pay attention, and make sure that the noun or phrase coming right after the modifier is matched up with the modifier, so that it's describing the right thing. - [Voiceover] Right. You can get some crazy meanings out of your sentences otherwise. Like the bunny, with lightning. So that's dangling modifiers. You can learn anything. Paige out. - [Voiceover] Rosie out.