Faulty Modifiers on ACT English | English for ACT PDF Download

We'll be covering both the basic grammatical concepts behind faulty modifiers and how to apply that knowledge on the test.

Key Principle

The most important concept to remember when dealing with modifiers is that they need to be next to the word they're describing.

The heading says it all: the most important concept to remember when dealing with modifiers is that they need to be next to the word they're describing.

Sometimes these types of mistakes are obvious:

• Robot for sale by woman with laser eyes.

Hopefully, the robot has the laser eyes, and not the woman. The sentence should be:

• Robot with laser eyes for sale by woman.

However, on the ACT, this kind of error is often harder to spot. Take a look at the following sentence:

• Though exhausted, it would be another hour before Zoe got to go home.

There's nothing obviously wrong with this sentence, but let's think about what it's actually saying. We start with the modifier "though exhausted." That would seem to be describing Zoe, but it's next to "it," so right now, the sentence is actually saying that "it" is exhausted, which makes no sense. We need to reorder the sentence so that the modifier is next to what it's modifying:

• Though exhausted, Zoe wouldn't get to go home for another hour.

There are two main types of faulty modifiers on the ACT English section: dangling modifiers, which involve phrases at the beginning of sentences (e.g. the example about Zoe), and misplaced modifiers, which involve the order of words and phrases within sentences (e.g. the example about the robot).

Dangling Modifiers

When a sentence begins with a modifying phrase, the intro must be immediately followed by a comma and then the noun it's describing. Incorrect sentences of this type start with modifying phrases that describe something other than the noun immediately following the comma. For example:

• Running toward the lake, the trees were swaying in the wind.

"The trees" are obviously not running towards the lake—they don't have legs. There are two ways to correct this kind of error: you can either replace the incorrect noun (in this case "trees") with the correct one, making any changes necessary to preserve the meaning of the sentence (fix 1), or you can turn the intro phrase into a clause that includes the subject the phrase is meant to be describing (fix 2). These techniques sound more complicated than they are, so let's put them to use remedying our issue with the running trees:

• Fix 1: Running toward the lake, I saw the trees swaying in the wind.
• Fix 2: As I ran toward the lake, the trees were swaying in the wind.

Both versions of the sentence are equally correct. You won't be asked to choose between the two options—instead, which approach makes more sense will depend on which part of the sentence is underlined and what answer choices you're given.

Situation 1: Main Clause Underlined

If only the main clause is underlined, you'll need to pick the answer with the correct subject—what I refer to above as fix 1. For example:

• Incorrect: With tears running down her cheeks, Susie’s sadness was obvious.
• Correct: With tears running down her cheeks, Susie was obviously sad.

Even though the distinction may not seem important, "Susie" and "Susie's sadness" aren't actually the same, and Susie's sadness can't cry. If the second half of the sentence is underlined, the best way to correct that issue is to replace the incorrect noun "Susie's sadness" with the correct one "Susie."

Let's take a look at how this works on an ACT style question:

Initiated by a few loud teenagers, the crowd of concert goers quickly joined the heckling in order to drive the band off the stage.
(a) NO CHANGE
(b) in order to drive the band off stage, the crowd of concert goers quickly joined the heckling.
(c) the point of the heckling, quickly joined by the crowd of concert goers, was to drive the band off stage.
(d) the heckling, which the crowd of concert goers swiftly joined, was intended to drive the band off stage.

What's the problem here? That "the crowd" wasn't initiated by the teenagers, the "heckling" was. As such, "heckling" has to come immediately after the comma, no matter how tempting the other choices are. D is the correct answer.

Situation 2: Intro Phrase Underlined

On the other hand, if only the introductory phrase is underlined, you have to convert the introductory phrase into a clause that clarifies who or what is being described (fix 2). Let's examine our example about Susie from this perspective.

• Incorrect:  With tears running down her cheeks, Susie’s sadness was obvious.
• Correct:  Because there were tears running down Susie's cheeks, Susie’s sadness was obvious. 

We can't alter the subject in this case, so we need to turn the prepositional phrase into a dependent clause that makes it clear that the cheeks belong to Susie.

Situation 3: Both Parts Underlined

• On the ACT, you may also see dangling modifiers in the context of more general sentence organization questions. In these cases, all or most of the sentence is underlined.
• There's no single correct approach to these types of questions; instead, you need to rule out any answers with grammatical issues, and choose the clearest answer among the remaining options.

Misplaced Modifiers

Let's revisit the key rule for modifier placement: a modifier must be next to whatever it's modifying. More specifically, single word modifiers, i.e. adverbs and adjectives, generally go before the word they're modifying, while prepositional phrases go after what they're modifying.

• Incorrect: The monster played weird alone.
• Correct: The weird monster played alone.

"Weird" is an adjective, which means it can be used to describe a noun or pronoun. The only one of those in the sentence is "monster," so "weird" should go before monster. (In some cases, this kind of construction might indicate an adverb vs. adjective error.)

• Incorrect: The monster sent long letters to his new friend full of details about his life.
• Correct: The monster sent long letters full of details about his life to his new friend.

In the first version of this sentence, the phrase "full of details about his life" comes after, and is thus modifying, "friend." But it's meant to describe "letters." The corrected sentence places the phrases in the appropriate order.

There are exceptions to these guidelines, but the idea that modifiers should be next to what they modify is a good rule of thumb. Let's look at a sample ACT style question:

Edgar Allan Poe is revered for his frightening and stylish stories by literary critics, many of which appear in high school text books.
(a) NO CHANGE
(b) by literary critics for his frightening and stylish stories,
(c) for his frightening and stylish stories, by literary critics,
(d) by literary critics who deem his stories frightening and stylish,

At first glance, there's nothing much wrong with this construction: sure, the order of the prepositional phrases "for his frightening and stylish stories" and "by literary critics" is a bit weird, but the ACT isn't usually that nitpicky. There's actually a bigger issue here, with the non-underlined clause "many of which appear in high school text books." What's which referring to? The stories, not the critics. As such, we need to reorder the underlined portion to put "stories" at the end, making B the correct choice.

Modifier Rules for ACT

Key points for identifying and answering faulty modifier questions on the ACT:

Look out for prepositional phrases at the start of sentences, where either the phrase itself, the clause after the comma, or both are underlined. Pay attention to questions that inquire about "placement."

Remember these rules:

• A modifier should be placed next to what it's modifying.
• Adjectives and adverbs typically precede the word they describe.
• Prepositional phrases generally follow immediately after what they modify.