How to avoid dangling modifiers

Question

Hello, All.Can the below sentence be fixed by just adding "By" before "Using?"Using a pencil, a sketch of the suspect is made.If not, how else can we get rid of the dangling modifier here? Thanks in advance!

Avangi · Accepted Answer

AnonymousUsing a pencil, a sketch of the suspect is made.

In my opinion, the sentence is okay as it is. Adding "by" doesn't change anything.

The sentence is in passive voice, so the subject doesn't need to be identified.

By changing it to active voice, you can make the participial phrase modify the subject:
Using a pencil, John made a sketch of the suspect.

The modifying phrase in question is adverbial. It modifies the action, or the verb "made."

The bolt is tightened using a wrench. Do you consider this a dangling modifiier?

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks Avangi.

Nope, using a wrench here modifies tightened and so is not a dangling modifier.

However, I'm a bit confused because the American Chemical Society Style Guide, 3rd edn, has the following as examples of sentences with dangling participles.

"After stirring the mixture, 5 mg of compound 2 was added."

"Using the procedure described previously, the partition function can be evaluated."

Avangi · Answer

These are interesting! I haven't thought much about danglers in the passive voice. The actor is sort of assumed.

Anonymous"After stirring the mixture, 5 mg of compound 2 was added."

This one bothers me. It sounds like a dangler.

Anonymous"Using the procedure described previously, the partition function can be evaluated."

This one seems okay. But clearly you can "undangle" it by reversing the order, and even more clearly, by adding "by," as you suggested in your original example.

The partition function can be evaluated by using the procedure described previously.
No one could object to this!

Edit: In my first post, I should not have said that the modifying phrase could be made to modify the subject by switching to active voice.
It would be more accurate to say it's a sentential modifier. That is, it modifies the main clause.
Even if you put "John" first:
John, using a pencil, made a sketch of the suspect.
I don't think that simply changing the order of a sentence can be said to correct a dangling participle. I may be wrong.

Anonymous · Answer

I would agree with you Avangi. Dangling modifiers cannot be corrected by relocating the modifier, unlike misplaced modifiers.

Anyway, in the sentence

"John, using a pencil, made a sketch of the suspect."

Is using a pencil here a sentential modifier? Isn't it modifying the verb? I may also be wrong, though.

Mister Micawber · Answer

This recent thread may be of interest...or of added confusion:

BarbaraPA · Answer

I've been asked to chime in, so here are my thoughts:

I completely see the point of saying the modifier modifies the entire sentence in a passive construction.

I find dangling modifiers an amusing part of English because of the images you can come up with (Rotting in the back of the pantry, Peter found the oranges...) but not a very important part, because natives make this mistake ALL THE TIME and no one really thinks that Peter was rotting away.

So the pedantic answer is that the original was danging, since whatever noun comes immediately after the initial phrase is what that phrase is modifying. But you would have to be from another planet with no sense of reality to not understand the intended meaning. I care a lot more about meaning than these things.

Avangi · Answer

Grammar Geek whatever noun comes immediately after the initial phrase is what that phrase is modifying.

Thanks, GG, for "chiming in" and for clearing up this point. To me this can mean that the distinction between a dangling modifier and a misplaced modifier is not necessarily as clear and obvious as I had thought.
I had it in my head that the concept of a dangling modifier held that there was nothing specific in the sentence for it to modify.
I'd now say that this thread includes both types.
We agree that treating the phrase in question as a sentential modifier can eliminate the problem of "definition," in cases where the sentence is in passive voice, and seems clear and natural.

Thanks again.
- A.

Avangi · Answer

AnonymousAnyway, in the sentence "John, using a pencil, made a sketch of the suspect."

AnonymousIs using a pencil here a sentential modifier? Isn't it modifying the verb?

Hi, Anon. I'd call it "sentential."
But I think that in any active voice finite clause, a sentential modifier may alternatively be said to modify the verb.
The action is, after all, what it's all about. The verb epitomizes the action, so to speak.

Avangi · Answer

AnonymousHowever, I'm a bit confused because the American Chemical Society Style Guide, 3rd edn, has the following as examples of sentences with dangling participles.

Hello again!
Does the Style Guide you reference give any specific advice about using "by" to eliminate a dangling participle?

- A.

Avangi · Answer

Mister MicawberThis recent thread may be of interest

Mister Micawber

Yes, this is very enlightening, MrM. Thanks.
Do you share my current view that many examples offered as "dangling modifiers" are actually "misplaced modifiers?"

Rgdz, - A.

How to avoid dangling modifiers

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