IXL | Select the misplaced or dangling modifier

Select the misplaced or dangling modifier.

The paws of the giant panda have enlarged wrist bones that help the animal grip and eat bamboo like thumbs.

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question

Select the misplaced or dangling modifier.

Reducing visibility to just a few feet, residents of the Great Plains gave the name "black blizzards" or "black rollers" to the dense dust clouds that often swept through during the 1930s.

key idea

A modifier is a word or phrase that modifies, or describes, another word or phrase.

A misplaced modifier is a modifier that appears to modify the wrong word or phrase because it is too far from the word or phrase that it should modify.

Winston saw monkeys and peacocks on vacation in India.

This sentence has a misplaced modifier. It wrongly suggests that the monkeys and peacocks were on vacation.

On vacation in India, Winston saw monkeys and peacocks.

This sentence correctly suggests that Winston was on vacation.

A dangling modifier is a modifier that appears to modify the wrong word or phrase because the word or phrase that it should modify is missing from the sentence.

Trying to fall asleep, the sheets felt uncomfortably hot.

This sentence has a dangling modifier. It wrongly suggests that the sheets were trying to fall asleep.

Trying to fall asleep, I felt uncomfortably hot in the sheets.

This sentence correctly suggests that I was trying to fall asleep.

solution

Reducing visibility to just a few feet is a misplaced modifier because it appears to modify residents of the Great Plains. The sentence wrongly suggests that the residents, not the dust clouds, reduced visibility to just a few feet.

Reducing visibility to just a few feet, residents of the Great Plains gave the name "black blizzards" or "black rollers" to the dense dust clouds that often swept through during the 1930s.

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