One of the things that you should keep in mind when writing is to avoid misplaced modifiers at all cost.

It’s a fact that there have been a lot of modifiers that are present in our English language and in our grammar writing.

Modifiers have been so very useful in writing. These words do have different purposes when applied in any parts of your content.

Although it can be very unpleasant if you keep on using modifiers in all of your sentences when writing,

One of the rules is to minimize the use of modifiers in every sentence that you have. This will only lead up to a monotonous content and you will lose your readers eventually.

Honestly, modifiers can alter the exact meaning or idea of your content once they are incorrectly and improperly placed in some of your sentences.

But sad to say, not all writers realized this mistake as soon as they can. When writing modifiers, it has to be planned accordingly in order to promote a manageable flow of ideas from one sentence to another.

Learning how to choose the correct modifier that will fit your ideas should always be kept in mind. A modifier can be a single word, a phrase or clause. It has a unique characteristic yet vague at times when its role in your sentence is really not necessary.

Since modifiers provide emphasis to some words or to the idea of your sentence, it can be either in an adjectival or adverbial form. These types of modifiers act just like adjectives and adverbs do but they serve as to limit or qualify some words or ideas in your sentences.

But, when modifiers are misplaced in your sentences, they can be very confusing and will only make your content’s quality weaker and unclear.

Misplaced modifiers are among the most confusing things readers can chance upon, since the slightest mistake can change a statement’s entire meaning. On the upside, they can be hilarious, delivering a meaning that’s so inappropriate, it makes for unintentional comedy.

Limiting modifiers (such as only, even, almost, nearly, barely, merely, simply, and just) are among the most frequent transgressions in this regard. Because of the fact that they’re used very often, modifying different subjects and actions, they are easy to misplace. Writing checkers will very rarely catch them, since the placement remains grammatically correct, despite relaying a different meaning than you intended.

An Example To Demonstrate

Take these sentences, for instance:

-The students almost saw the entire show.

-The students saw almost the entire show.

Notice how the first sentence could mean that the students may or may not have seen the show, while the second makes it clear that they did see the show, just not in its entirety.

The All-Important Rule

When using a limiting modifier, there is one rule to always live by: always put it immediately in front of the word being modified. Whether it’s changing the meaning for a subject or a verb, the same principle holds – and you have to stick to that if you’re going to get it right.

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Category: Writing
Keywords: limiting modifiers, misplaced modifiers