Need Help?

Get in touch with us

searchclose
bannerAd

How to Avoid Wrong Position of Words?

Grade 7
Jun 14, 2023
link

Writing – Avoid Wrong Position of Words

Modifier – A modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that describes another part of a sentence.

Misplaced Modifier – A Modifier is wrongly positioned in a sentence in relation to the words, phrase, or clause it intends to modify. It is not placed close enough to the word it modifies.

Adverbs and Adjectives as Misplaced Modifiers

Examples:

Misplaced – She nearly rehearsed for four hours every day. (Adverb nearly modifier is positioned wrongly next to the verb. It intends to modify adjective four. Also, the meaning is vague. How rehearsal can be done nearly)

Correction– She rehearsed for nearly four hours every day.

parallel

Misplaced –On my way back, I found a gold man’s ring. (It means a gold man has a ring-vague)

Correction -On my way back, I found a man’s gold ring. (It means a man has a gold ring)

Misplaced – Just Liam was picked to host the event. (It means only Liam hosting the event, no one else)

Correction – Liam was just picked to host the event. (Liam was picked now to host the event)

Phrases as Misplaced Modifiers

Misplaced – Tired of late-night work, happy was Murphy when his boss gave him a day off.

parallel

Correction – Tired of late-night work, Murphy was happy when his boss gave him a day off.

(The phrase ‘Tired of late night work’ modifies the noun)

Misplaced – She served doughnuts to the kids on paper plates (It means kids are on paper plates-vague)

Correction – She served the kids doughnuts on paper plates (It means doughnuts

are on paper plates. Prepositional phrase ‘on paper plates’ modify correct noun ‘doughnuts’)

Misplaced – Li bought a cat for his sister called Mimi. (It means sister’s name is Mimi)

Correction – Li bought a cat called Mimi for his sister. (Phrase called me to be closer to the acat)

Clauses as Misplaced Modifiers

Misplaced – The waiter served a steak to the guest that was oily.

Correction – The waiter served a steak that was oily to the guest. (The clause ‘that was oily’ to modify the correct noun ‘steak’)

Avoid wrong position of words

Comments:

Related topics

Adjectives

Exploring the World of Adjectives: Types, Usage, and Examples

What are Parts of Speech? Parts of speech determine words’ grammatical and semantic position in a sentence. Activity time The parts of speech are nouns, adverbs, conjunctions, pronouns, interjections, adjectives, articles, prepositions, and verbs. Identify the parts of speech of the underlined words in the following sentences. White- Adjective Big- Adjective    Exciting- Adjectives New- […]

Read More >>
Memoir writing

Memoir Writing: Basic Elements, Structures, and Types

Memoir: A memoir is a narrative written from an author’s perspective about a particular facet of his/her own life. ‘Memoir’ word comes from the French word ‘memoire’, which means ‘memory’ or ‘reminiscence’. Example Night: Elie Wiesel gives an account of how he survived his teenage years at Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps during World War […]

Read More >>
Identifying the main idea

Identification of Main Idea in Fiction and Non-fiction

Every story or paragraph or non-fictional text has at least one main idea. The MAIN IDEA is what the text is mostly about. (It is backed up or supported by SUPPORTING DETAILS) Before discussing how to find the main idea, we shall first look at TOPIC. Can you define a topic? A topic can be […]

Read More >>
Writing an Article

Writing an Article: Structure and Essential Tips

What is an article? Structure of Article Writing : Title : Draw the attention of readers with an attractive title and indicate the main topic of the article Introduction : Attract the reader’s attention with a sentence that gives a general presentation of the topic. Main Body : Between these sentences, the body should do […]

Read More >>

Other topics