Modifiers: Below you will find several explanations, a funny story, and several practice exercises to improve your skills with modifiers. You should finish all of these and see me about any questions that you have before our quiz on May 16^th. Answers are included for all exercises, with the exception of exercise 6. You will need to see me for those answers.

-Ted

Ø How to fix dangling modifiers-explanation

Misplaced Modifiers Will Kill You

(by Ashley Crowe http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/2818.html)

A woman hired a hitman to kill her husband. On the day before he was supposed to finish the job, he met with her in the park. She gave him an envelope with the money in it and said, "Kill the man in the Mercedes with an American flag."

It puzzled the hitman why she wanted him to use an American Flag to kill her husband, but he was hired to do a job and he decided he would do it no matter how absurd it seemed.

The next morning, he received a call from the angry wife. She accused him of not doing the job, and he replied, "I don't know what you are talking about! I dropped him and the flag I killed him with in the river, it's not possible for him to be alive."

She paused and then asked, "Why would you kill him with an American Flag?"

"I thought it was weird, too, but you said 'Kill the man in the black Mercedes with an American Flag,' so I snuck up on the black Mercedes and choked the man inside with an American Flag."

The woman sighed and then replied, "No, I didn't want you to kill him with an American Flag! The car my husband drives has an American Flag across the back windshield!"

That is how a misplaced modifier can kill you!

New Exercises:

1) http://wps.ablongman.com/long_long_rw_1/0,8256,1454138-,00.html

2) http://wps.ablongman.com/long_long_rw_2/43/11197/2866643.cw/index.html

3) http://wps.ablongman.com/long_long_srw_1/30/7800/1996869.cw/index.html

4) excellent writing practice at the bottom of this page: http://grammar-quizzes.com/clauses-1.html

5) http://www.roch.edu/org/writingcenter/Misplacedmodifiers.htm, answers here:

6) http://www.dianahacker.com/writersref5e/instructor/pdf/dev_exercises/REF5-DEV-S3-2.pdf

(See me for the answers after you finish.)

Exercises used in class:

http://aliscot.com/bigdog/dmmm_exercise.htm

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/cgi-shl/quiz.pl/modifier_quiz.htm