Posted by Erica Midkiff ? Tuesday, October 2, 2012 ? 1 Comment?
Photo (c) Erica Midkiff
Split infinitive.
Dangling participle.
Dangling modifier.
Are they diseases? Scientific terms? No! Both are actually fairly simple ideas with scary-sounding names. (Don?t worry: I, too, used to fear technical-sounding grammar concepts.) I?m going to break these down so that you won?t tremble any longer!
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Split Infinitive
An infinitive is the ?to? version of a verb: to run, to play, to jump, to think.
A split infinitive is when a word comes between the infinitive: to really run, to actively play, to happily jump, to hardly think.
Yes, it?s that simple! Grammar rules have long told us not to split infinitives. But here?s a little secret: it?s not that big of a deal. Use your (internal) ears. When you read a sentence with a split infinitive, does it sound ok? Will others think it does? If the answer is yes, feel free to leave it. But shhh, don?t tell the grammar police.
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Dangling Participle and Dangling Modifier
This one is relatively simple, but it?s tough to explain in words that won?t make your eyes glaze over. So let?s start with examples!
Listening to music, the doorbell interrupted me. (DP)
As a copy editor, the manuscripts I read sometimes contain mistakes. (DM)
Each of these contains an initial phrase that will refer to some noun in the second part of the sentence. And because of the way the second part of each sentence is written, the initial phrase refers to the wrong thing.
In the first sentence, the intent was to say that I was listening to music and the doorbell interrupted me. But as this is written, the doorbell was listening to music. To keep the initial phrase intact, this sentence would need to say, ?Listening to music, I was interrupted by the phone.? (This provides a subject to which the initial phrase can correctly refer.)
In the second sentence, the intent was to say that I read manuscripts that sometimes have mistakes in them because I?m a copy editor. But as this is written, the manuscript is being described as a copy editor. We all know that?s just not true! Again, to keep the initial phrase intact, the second part of the sentence would need to be rearranged: ?As a copy editor, I read manuscripts that sometimes contain mistakes.?
The key with both of these is, as always, to read carefully, and to question what you?re reading. It?s easy to skim over dangling participles and modifiers, so keep your eyes open! They?re often good for a laugh anyway.
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P.S. The photo is from Virginia, where I grew up and spent the last week. I worked a lot, but also spent a lot of time with my family. I hope you all take this kind of time for yourself soon; it was so restorative.
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: Erica Midkiff // Copy Editor :
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