Hi everyone. I'm Jennifer from English with Jennifer. Have you ever made a silly mistake?
I think we all make mistakes when we're tired. One morning, I had my breakfast,
and then I put the box of cereal in the fridge and the cold milk in a cabinet. Luckily, I realized my
mistake and I fixed it. Mistakes can happen when you're tired, when you're simply not careful,
and when you're not aware of a certain way things should be done. A misplaced modifier results
when we put a word, a phrase, or even a clause in the wrong place -- an awkward place.
Misplacing even a single word can sometimes create a weird situation,
kind of like the mistake I made with the cereal and the milk. But fortunately for me,
no one was around to see my silly mistake. With a misplaced modifier, the mistake can create
confusion for other people. Misplaced modifiers can cause misunderstanding.
In this lesson, let's practice identifying and fixing misplaced modifiers.
Imagine an older woman looking at a baby photo.
Looking at the baby without her glasses, the woman didn't recognize her grandchild.
Does that sound weird...odd even just a little? It does to me.
Who should be wearing the glasses, the woman or the baby?
A general guideline is to place a modifier next to the word it's modifying. It would be better to
say, "Without her glasses, the woman looked at the baby and didn't recognize her grandchild."
Or possibly: Looking at the baby,
the woman didn't recognize her grandchild because she wasn't wearing her glasses.
Or to be very clear, we could say, "The woman wasn't wearing
her glasses when she looked at the baby, so she didn't recognize her grandchild."
Consider this example. The first class was over,
and the second would start soon. The teacher cleaned up the mess the children had made quickly.
Look for an adverb of manner. Do you see it?
Quickly. What happened quickly? Cleaning up or making the mess?
It would be more logical to say, "The first class was over, and the second would start
soon. The art teacher quickly cleaned up the mess the children had made."
So, whether it's a single-word adverb or a prepositional phrase
functioning like an adverb, be sure to place it next to the word you're modifying.
Spot the misplaced modifier. They told me in the evening I would have better luck.
Is the meaning completely clear?
I think it could be understood two different ways. Which way is more logical?
Perhaps with more context this would make sense.
Maybe this is the situation: I went to a phone store, and it was really busy. A
sales rep suggested that I return later in the evening because there would be fewer customers.
So, "in the evening" is not about when they told me, but more about when I should return. It would
be more logical, it would be clearer to say, "They told me I would have better luck in the evening."
Okay. Let's consider the placement of adjectives.
Every morning, I check my important list of reminders.
Maybe the sentence makes sense already. It's not totally confusing, but it could be more accurate.
What is really important, the list or the reminders? The reminders have importance. I think
it would be more logical to say, "Every morning, I check my list of important reminders." Get it?
Here's a similar sentence. Every morning, I give my dog a nutritious bowl of food.
Where is the misplaced modifier?
What exactly is nutritious, the bowl -- the metal bowl -- or what is inside the bowl?
Wouldn't it be more logical to say, "Every morning, I give my dog a bowl of nutritious food"?
Okay. Time for a practice task. Fix the misplaced modifiers. It could be an adjective
or an adverb or a prepositional phrase functioning like an adjective or an adverb.
A. My brother has a new and old collection of movie posters.
Hint: What's new and old?
Move the modifier next to the word it's modifying.
Answer: My brother has a collection of new and old movie posters.
B. Our teacher explained in 1803 the U.S. acquired the territory of Louisiana from France.
Hint: What happened in 1803?
Put the prepositional phrase of time in the most logical position.
Answer: Our teacher explained that the U.S.
acquired the territory of Louisiana from France in 1803.
C. The sales lady showed me a denim woman's jacket.
Hint: What is made of denim?
Well, certainly not the woman. Answer: The sales lady showed me a woman's denim jacket.
D. The winner was announced after the students were seated by the school director.
Hint: What did the school director do?
Answer: The winner was announced by the school director after the students were seated.
E. The mother in her high chair fed the little baby.
Hint: Who was in the high chair?
Answer: The mother fed the little baby in her high chair.
Let's look at confusing uses of adjective clauses and reduced adjective clauses. I
have a whole playlist on adjective clauses, and I go over clauses with the relative pronouns
who, which, and that. I also go over the relative adverbs where, when, and why.
Remember that adjective clauses (relative clauses), reduced or not,
follow the head noun -- the noun they modify. Here are some correct examples to look at first.
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Do you see the adjective clauses?
Do you see the head nouns that they follow?
Okay. Now try to spot the mistakes in these sentences with adjective clauses.
We need to make the wording clear. Let's fix the word order. First,
find the adjective clause or the adjective phrase in each sentence.
Now find each head noun.
Do you see how the word order needs to change?
The cake that I bought from my daughter's birthday is in the fridge.
At the bakery, she chose a round cake that had flowers on top.
The guests put the gifts wrapped in pretty paper on the table.
The many colorful balloons floating near the ceiling created a festive mood.
Okay. Ready for another practice task? Make the sentences clearer. Fix those misplaced modifiers.
The aquarium, filled with salt water, had Clownfish and several other marine fish.
We admired the ballerinas dancing on stage.
The birds circling up in the sky must have had a wingspan larger than my arm.
The flight attendant gave a blanket to the passenger who had complained about the cold air.
My neighbor recommended a massage therapist, a woman trained in reflexology.
This last group of commonly misplaced modifiers are adverbs that focus on another word or restrict
the meaning of another word. Be careful with the adverbs "only" and "just." Place them before the
word they modify. I'm sorry I wanted to help only you. I didn't mean to make things worse.
Hint: Was I trying to help just one person or was I trying to do just one thing?
Move "only" to another position.
Here's the correction. I'm sorry. I only wanted to help you. I didn't mean to make things worse.
Unclear wording can also happen with adverbs like
"almost" and "nearly" or adverbs of frequency like "rarely."
We failed to make the deadline nearly because the internet connection was slow.
Hint: What almost happened, us failing to make the deadline or the internet being slow?
Correction: We nearly failed to make the deadline because the internet connection was slow.
Here's the final practice task. Be sure to place the adverbs in the most logical position.
A. Use "just" to emphasize that the announcement took place only minutes ago.
The administration has just announced that our budget will increase next year.
B. Use "almost" to limit the number of jobs that have dangers.
There are certain dangers in almost every job.
C. Use "rarely" to explain that riding your bike is convenient.
I'm rarely late when I ride my bike to work.
That's all for now. Please remember to like and share the video if you found the lesson useful.
And if you'd like to take learning beyond my videos, consider joining me on Patreon,
where I have an ongoing study program for high intermediate and advanced students. As always,
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