The Anatomy of Dangling Modifiers

Modifiers are similar to a brochure. They briefly describe a component of a sentence to provide pertinent details about a particular noun or pronoun or to put the idea of the entire statement in a context. These descriptive elements, in simple terms, pop up in the form of adjective, participial phrase, prepositional phrase, or dependent clause anywhere in the statement towards making the expression more informative and, in most cases, to achieve conciseness. Syntactically, these descriptive elements come in the form of adjective phrase, elaborating a specific noun phrase carried in the sentence. In “Driven by positivity and determination, Henry Ford was able to bring about the V-8 vehicle engine,” the past participial phrase “Driven by positivity and determination” tells about Henry Ford when he led the advent of the spectacular V-8 motor in the world of automobile.

In our day-to-day language, modifiers are sometimes misused in expressions, which results in illogical sentence construction and, accordingly, question marks atop listeners’ heads. Using our linguistic microscope, let’s take a look at the nature of this common error, a slip in language use known in grammar studies as dangling modifiers.

art card posted by the Presidential Communications Office on its Facebook page on 17 July 2025

The case of dangling modifiers arises when the noun or pronoun to which the modifier refer is not the subject of the independent clause in the sentence. Take a look at the recent headline of the Presidential Communications Office of the Philippine government about Dalian trains, a statement that went viral on social media and became the subject of ridicule. The headline read, “Idle for 10 years, President Marcos makes Dalian trains finally hit tracks.” Here, the modifier “Idle for 10 years” was intended to pertain and give background to Dalian trains, which were purchased by the Philippine government from China in 2014 to beef up the rail transport system in the metropolis. Because the subject of the independent clause is President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.—not the Dalian trains—the modifier “Idle for 10 years” will be grammatically interpreted as pertaining to President Marcos, making the modifier dangling.

Notice how dangling modifiers create a room for confusion in communication. This is so as modifiers in sentences such as the one in the example inherently refer to the subject of the sentence.

Another illustration is “Despite having hefty funds for flood control and disaster response programs, severe flood and displacement of residents still proliferate in the metropolis when strong typhoons visit the Philippines.” Here, the modifier “Despite having hefty funds for flood control and disaster response programs,” although readily understandable by meaning in the statement, cannot be attributed to any part of the independent clause.

Correcting Dangling Modifiers

There are two remedies for dangling modifiers. One is to make the modified word the subject of the sentence. The other is to include a subject in the modifier unit, which will transform the modifier from being a phrase to a dependent clause in the sentence.

To perform the first cure for dangling modifiers, there comes the rewording of the independent clause of the sentence. In the headline above, we shall have “Idle for 10 years, Dalian trains are made by President Marcos hit tracks finally” (though this is no longer an appealing headline; probably “Idle for 10 years, Dalian trains to hit tracks finally, thanks to President Marcos” for news-writing purposes).

As to the second remedy, we can do this to the second example by slightly configuring it to “Despite the government having hefty funds for flood control and disaster response programs, severe flood and displacement of residents still proliferate in the metropolis when strong typhoons visit the Philippines.” In this sentence, we inserted the subject “the government” in the modifier, which elevated it from being a present participial phrase to a dependent clause. In this structure, the modifier no longer hangs its completeness on the independent clause.

Final Thoughts

Dangling modifiers represent a slight misuse of words in expressions, a common grammatical error that leads to head-scratching and misunderstanding. They surface in our daily interactions, especially when we put our grammar guard down and let our tongue or hand do the talking instinctively. By keeping in mind that modifiers point to the subject of the sentence, we can carefully prevent ourselves sliding onto dangling modifiers, thus avoiding confusion in our statements.