AP® English Language and Composition review sheet from Aim for Five (aimforfive.com/lang/units/8/8-6)
Unit 8 · Topic 8.6
8.6 Modifiers and parenthetical elements
Modifiers are words, phrases or clauses that add detail about something in a sentence. To avoid confusion, they should sit right next to what they describe. Parenthetical elements, set off by commas, dashes or parentheses, interrupt a sentence to add helpful but non-essential information.
Key terms
- modifier
- misplaced modifier
- dangling modifier
- parenthetical element
- nonessential information
Modifiers and where they go
A modifier describes, limits or explains another part of the sentence. It can be a single word ("only," "nearly"), a phrase ("with a red cover," "walking to school") or a clause ("who missed the bus"). Readers attach a modifier to the nearest word it could describe, so placement controls meaning.
Compare: "She only told her teacher" (she didn't do anything else) and "She told only her teacher" (no one else was told). Same words, different meaning.
Three common modifier errors
| Error | Example | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Misplaced modifier | We served pancakes to the guests on paper plates. | We served the guests pancakes on paper plates. |
| Dangling modifier | Walking into the gym, the noise was overwhelming. | Walking into the gym, I found the noise overwhelming. |
| Squinting modifier | Students who study often score higher. (Does often go with study or with score?) | Students who often study score higher. |
Parenthetical elements
A parenthetical element is extra information that interrupts a sentence: "The library, which opened in 1910, needs a new roof." Remove it, and the sentence still makes sense. Writers use parentheticals to define a term, give a source, add an example or make a side comment that addresses the audience's needs.
The punctuation you choose changes the effect. Commas are the lightest interruption. Parentheses quiet the information, like a whisper. Dashes make it louder, drawing attention to the interruption.
Franklin D. Roosevelt's First Inaugural Address (1933), given during the Great Depression, includes this short sentence about the nation's troubles: "They concern, thank God, only material things." The parenthetical "thank God" adds a note of gratitude and reassurance, and "only," placed right before "material things," limits the problems to money and goods, not the nation's spirit.
Essential versus non-essential
If the information is needed to identify which thing you mean, it's essential, and you don't set it off with commas: "Students who finish early may leave." If it's just extra, set it off: "My sister, who finished early, left." Many writers use "that" for essential clauses and "which," with commas, for non-essential ones.
Writing questions test both placement and punctuation of modifiers. A choice that leaves a modifier dangling, or that breaks up an essential phrase with commas, is usually wrong.
Worked examples
Try each one yourself first, then open the solution.
- Example 1
Fixing a dangling modifier
Practice draft sentence (written for this practice set): "After reviewing the survey results, a later start time seemed like the best option." Which revision best fixes the error? (A) After reviewing the survey results, it seemed like a later start time was the best option. (B) After reviewing the survey results, the committee decided that a later start time was the best option. (C) A later start time, after reviewing the survey results, seemed like the best option. (D) After reviewing, the survey results showed a later start time was the best option.
Show the solutionHide the solution
- Step 1: Find the modifier: "After reviewing the survey results." Ask who did the reviewing.
- Step 2: In the original, the word right after the comma is "a later start time," which says the start time reviewed the results. That's a dangling modifier.
- Step 3: (A) puts "it" after the comma; "it" didn't review anything either.
- Step 4: (B) puts "the committee" right after the modifier, so the reviewer is named and the meaning is clear.
- Step 5: (C) still attaches the reviewing to the start time, and (D) makes the survey results review themselves.
Answer: (B). A modifier at the start of a sentence must be followed immediately by the person or thing doing the action.
- Example 2
Analyzing a parenthetical in a source
Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 1 (1787; public domain): "I am well aware that it would be disingenuous to resolve indiscriminately the opposition of any set of men (merely because their situations might subject them to suspicion) into interested or ambitious views." What does the parenthetical element add, and why might Hamilton set it in parentheses?
Show the solutionHide the solution
- Step 1: Read the sentence without it: Hamilton says it would be insincere to explain away all opposition as self-interest.
- Step 2: Read the parenthetical: it names the weak reasoning behind such suspicion, judging people "merely" by their situation.
- Step 3: Consider the punctuation: parentheses lower the volume, so the admission feels like a quiet aside rather than a dramatic confession.
Answer: The parenthetical pinpoints the flaw in suspecting opponents simply because of their positions. Setting it in parentheses lets Hamilton admit that flaw quietly, so he seems fair-minded without drawing much attention to his own earlier insinuation (8.2).
Common mistakes
- Starting a sentence with a modifier like "Walking into the room," and then naming something that wasn't walking.
- Putting "only" in the wrong place, which changes or blurs what's being limited.
- Setting off essential information with commas, which makes it sound optional.
- Using only one comma around a parenthetical in the middle of a sentence. It needs a pair.
On the exam
- For modifier questions, ask "Who or what is doing this?" and make sure that word comes right after the introductory phrase.
- In reading questions about a parenthetical, consider what it adds for the audience: a definition, a source, a concession or a personal aside.
Connected topics
Videos
Check yourself
4 questions on 8.6 Modifiers and parenthetical elements. Pick an answer to see if you got it, and why.
Written for this practice set: a draft of a paragraph from a student's review of a local museum. The museum is fictional.
Which revision of sentence 1 best corrects the dangling modifier?
Which revision of sentence 3 best corrects the misplaced modifier?
Sentence 4 is reproduced below. Visitors can only see the boat's deck from the second-floor balcony, since it is too high to see from below. Which version of the words "can only see the boat's deck from the second-floor balcony" makes the writer's meaning clearest?
Sentence 5 is reproduced below. The museum's curator Ana Ruiz has spent ten years collecting the fishermen's stories. The museum has only one curator. Which choice best replaces "curator Ana Ruiz has"?
0 of 4 answered