Correcting Modifier Placement Errors - PSAT Writing

Here, the modifying phrase is misplaced: it is Francis, not the nausea, that ate too much food. Choose the answer which places the subject close to the modifier and also makes grammatical sense.

The modifying phrase "happily singing" logically refers to the team of carefree ranch hands (cows, as a species, are not known for their musicality), but as the sentence is originally written that phrase modifies "cows." In order to fix the error, the sentence can be phrased in an active voice, making the subject of the sentence the team of ranch hands, which is both the more melodious and grammatically correct option.

In this sentence, the modifying phrase "walking briskly" correctly modifies the subject of the sentence, "I." The modifier in this sentence is clear, and there are no other errors, so the sentence is correct as written. The sentence correctly chooses the use of active voice, as opposed to passive voice, which would be awkward in this situation.

Here, “seething with anger” needs to describe who comes right after the comma. Thus, “Seething with anger, I slammed the door behind me” is the only answer choice that makes sense.

The sentence as written contains a dangling modifier, in that "the sun" is not what is "coming upon the hills." The sentence needs to be rewritten to show that the travelers were the ones "coming upon the hills." "As the travelers came upon the hill, the sun began setting behind them," is the correct answer choice.

The phrase "Rounding the corner" is a type of error is known as a "dangling modifier." What is described as "rounding" is not "the mountains" as the sentence's construction implies by having "the mountains" immediately follow the introductory phrase "Rounding the corner." "The group" is the noun being described by "Rounding the corner," so to correct this sentence's ambiguity, the sentence should be arranged so that "the group" is the noun that immediately follows "Rounding the corner." Thus, the correct answer is "The mountains loomed large in front of the group as they rounded the corner."

When the sentence begins with a descriptive phrase (e.g. prepositional or adverbial), the subject of that phrase should immediately follow. Only two choices correctly place the Subject, but one omits the primary verb, creating a new structure issue.

The sentence as written contains what is known as a "dangling modifer," as the introductory clause does not describe action taken by the subject, "noises." This means the sentence needs to be fixed to make the subject fit with its modifying clause. The best choice among the answers is "Walking at night through the graveyard, people hear noises that seem."

The best answer fixes the dangling participle that starts the sentence (the subject of the main clause should be the one doing the action described in the opening phrase), and uses a logical coordinator.

This sentence has a dangling participle; its word order separates "forced to draw a freehand map of the United States" from its object, "her," by a significant amount. The sentence can be made clearer by making sure that the object described by its introductory phrase immediately follows that phrase. The best answer choice, "she suddenly forgot all of her knowledge of geography," fixes this and keeps the adverb “suddenly” close to its verb, resulting in the sentence, "Forced to draw a freehand map of the United States, she suddenly forgot all of her knowledge of geography."

The sentence as written contains a dangling modifier, as the construction of the sentence implies the skyscrapers are what is "coming around the corner." The word order can be changed to make this much more clear. The correct answer is "Coming around the corner, the people got a view of the skyscrapers across the river."

The sentence as written contains a dangling modifier, as it is constructed in a manner that makes it seem as if "the path" is "unaware of" "any problems ahead." To correct this, the sentence's word order needs to be reversed so that the introductory phrase is immediately followed by the noun it describes—"the convoy," not "the path." "Unaware of any problems ahead, the convoy followed the path for miles" is the only answer choice that corrects this error. "Unaware of any problems ahead, the convoy following the path for miles" is incorrect because "following" is acting as a participle (that is, like an adjective describing "convoy"), and so the sentence does not contain a predicate and is thus a fragment.

As it is written, the initial sentence suggests that the speaker and author of the term paper is a murderous dictator, which is almost certainly not the speaker's intended claim. To fix this, we need to bring the modifying clause closer to the person to whom it is referring. One way that we can do that is by reversing the order of the two clauses.

This sentence contains a dangling participle. A dangling participle is a participle in an introductory phrase that makes reference to the wrong noun. As written, it appears as if "the sun" is doing the "noticing," when "the children" should be the ones doing the "noticing." Rearranging the sentence so that "the children" is the noun that follows the introductory phrase rids the sentence of its dangling participle.

The sentence as written contains a dangling modifier, which confusingly makes it read like the park was what rounded the corner. The only answer choice that fixes this issue and is grammatically correct is "As the tourists rounded the corner, the park was right in front of them."

The sentence features a dangling modifier, making it seem like the "aircraft carrier" is the object "alighting," when in fact the plane "alights" on the carrier. To remedy this, the words must be rearranged to make the plane the subject of the sentence. "The plane shook the aircraft carrier with its force," is the only answer choice that does this and is completely grammatically correct.

In the sentence, the word "walking" is a dangling modifier, as it is confusing which noun is modified by the action of "walking into the room." The sentence is written in a way that makes it the conference table, and the word order needs to be moved around to clear this up; therefore, the correct answer choice is "the interviewee's vision was dominated by the conference table."

There are two problems with the initial sentence. First, playing modifies Tyler, not his soreness. Second, the participle is in the wrong form. It should be in the perfect form, having played. Only past action could have caused his current soreness.

The sentence indicates with its final phrase that the "prom date" was the one on the stairs, but is written like the "young boy" is the one "descending." The introductory phrase needs to be restructured to make this distinction clear. The only answer choice that does this is "As she descended the stairs."

The sentence is confusingly written, as the modifier clause "Under the heavy weight" reads as though it is describing the rock. Actually the "people trapped underneath" are the ones "Under the heavy weight," and the sentence should be reworded to reflect this and clear up the confusion. The answer choice that does this and becomes clear is "the people trapped underneath the rock were being crushed."