Identifying the Dangling Modifier

A dangling modifier is a grammatical error in which a modifying phrase or clause is not clearly and logically connected to the word it is intended to modify. This creates confusion or ambiguity in the sentence.

Let's analyze each sentence to identify the one that contains a dangling modifier:

a) While driving to work, the traffic was heavy.
b) Hoping to catch the early train, the coffee spilled all over her dress.
c) Walking down the street, the trees were in full bloom.
d) By studying hard, good grades can be achieved.

Explanation of Each Sentence

a) While driving to work, the traffic was heavy.
In this sentence, the modifier "while driving to work" is correctly placed. However, it is not clear what is heavy - the traffic or the person driving to work. To avoid the dangling modifier, we can rephrase it as "While driving to work, she encountered heavy traffic."

b) Hoping to catch the early train, the coffee spilled all over her dress.
Again, the modifier "hoping to catch the early train" is correctly placed. However, the sentence suggests that the coffee was hoping to catch the early train, which is illogical. To correct the dangling modifier, we can rephrase it as "While she was hoping to catch the early train, the coffee spilled all over her dress."

c) Walking down the street, the trees were in full bloom.
This sentence contains the dangling modifier. The modifier "walking down the street" is not logically connected to the word it should modify. It implies that the trees were walking down the street, which is nonsensical. To fix the dangling modifier, we can rephrase it as "While walking down the street, she noticed the trees were in full bloom."

d) By studying hard, good grades can be achieved.
In this sentence, the modifier "by studying hard" is correctly placed. It is clear that studying hard leads to achieving good grades. Therefore, this sentence does not contain a dangling modifier.

Conclusion

The sentence that contains a dangling modifier is:

c) Walking down the street, the trees were in full bloom.

By rephrasing the sentence to ensure the modifier is logically connected to the intended word, we can eliminate the dangling modifier and improve the clarity of the sentence.