Modifying Modifiers

Dangling modifiers are something we're supposed to learn about in Middle School... I'm guessing, because I didn't. So before beginning the assignment, I actually had a mini-debate with myself over whether to begin reading this article or start off by looking up the term's definition. I settled for the latter. And good thing I did, because looking up the definition would have been a waste of time, since I actually knew what it was.

As I read the article I could only question why Corbett goes through the trouble of doing all of this. But then I realized that not only did I know what a dangling modifier is (in case you don't know click here, or read the article, which does a great job at explaining it), but I've also played Corbett's role and had the task of finding dangling modifiers. Where? Well, the famous SAT, of course.

The SAT's Writing section always has sentences with dangling modifiers. The test-taker is in charge of locating these errors and correcting them. But it's pretty hard as it is, even if you have only one sentence to look out for per question. So I can't even begin to imagine the trouble Corbett goes through to find all these hidden errors in random texts. He might be used to it for having done so for a long time, or he might be only starting out. But either way, he's undeniably a prescriptivist.