Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[paride1970]

The sentences below are taken from a Guardian article (it's about dangling modifiers):

After handing over the helmets and bike locks, his brow furrowed.

Being on the west coast, the Gulf Stream allows them to grow a range of tender plants.

As the only black kid in my primary school playground, animals had become my friends.

Would you please help me understand what's wrong with them? Thank you.

Here is the article link:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2010/aug/04/dangling-modifiers-hanging-parti...

[Lorikeet]

The answer is in the article, which says, ""After handing over the helmets and bike locks, his brow furrowed." (Brows can't hand over anything.)

"Being on the west coast, the Gulf Stream allows them to grow a range of tender plants." (The Gulf Stream is miles out in the Atlantic.)

And in the food mag, Benjamin Zephaniah may actually have said: "As the only black kid in my primary school playground, animals had become my friends." But I've a sneaking suspicion this dangler was perpetrated at the transcribing or subbing stage. And even so it makes for a dodgy sentence in several ways."

The first example in the article, "Hopping briskly through the vegetable garden, John saw a toad." shows what happens if the modifier isn't connected to the word it modifies. In this case, it sounds like John was hopping through the garden when he saw a toad, instead of "John saw a toad hopping briskly through the vegetable garden"