dangling participle?

Question

Reading my own writing, dangling participles keep appearing!

Could any of you give me some examples of these modifiers misplaced?

Answer 1

definition and example (your statement is a good example too)
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/dictionaries/english/data/d0081865.html

what participles are and how to use them
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/627/01/

http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/participle.htm

more examples
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_dangmod.html
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/d.html
http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/WritingGuide/10dangpt.htm
http://lbarker.orcon.net.nz/hangingparticiple.html

Answer 2

Every one of the -ing words in the sentence is a dangling participle, except possibly dangling...as well as the final "misplaced", which is a misplaced modifier. It is impossible, however, to see how the participle could be reading either your writing or anyone else's.

[The extensive links above are very good. It's nice to see teachers giving resources. I hope many here read them.]

Answer 3

Examples of dangling participles:

In "Singing in the rain, an umbrella is held by Gene Kelly over his head." the phrase "Singing in the rain" is the dangling present participle because the noun it modifies, Gene Kelly, is too far away from it in the sentence. As the sentence stands, it appears that it is the umbrella that is the one "singing in the rain" which is funny.

Correct the sentence to: "Singing in the rain, Gene Kelly held his umbrella over his head".

Another example:

"Cornered, Mr. Smith finally killed the rat"

Here, "cornered" is the dangling past participle. It's obvious that it was the rat that was cornered and not Mr. Smith. So "Cornered, the rat was finally killed by Mr. Smith" will be the correct sentence.

The point is the modifier should be as close as possible to the word it modifies.

I hope that's clear enough.

Answer 4

I remember cracking up laughing back in grade school whenever the teacher said dangling participle.

Answer 5

Could you give us an example of your writing so that we may assess your situation?