Misplaced Modifier Worksheets

Related ELA Standard: L.6.1, L.7.1, L.8.1

Core Standard
Answer Keys Here

Modifiers are words, phrases, and clauses that are placed to augment the meaning or purpose of the sentence. They are the window dressing of sentences. The role of a modifier in a sentence is extend a detail that provides the reader with more clarity or focus on the content of the sentence. In most cases the modifier is a single instance of an adjective or adverb. When the modifier comes in the form of a phrase or clause, they can often be placed at clumsy locations within the sentence and almost defeat their purpose. When the modifiers wander too far from the words that they modifying they create a misplaced modifier. These worksheets will help students learn to identify misplaced modifiers and how to rewrite the sentences that they are in to make them flow and serve their intended purpose.

Misplaced Modifier Worksheets To Print:

Correct It - Correct all the sentences using what you have learned so far.

Rewrites For Those - Act like a teacher and make all of the necessary corrections.

Sentence Correction - Please correct all of these sentences

More Practice - This worksheet will give you a bit more practice with this skill.

Place the Modifiers - Where would you place them?

Revisions - You will need to make several revisions of these statements to get everything perfect.

Ambiguous Cases - These are commonly set off by adverbs. More common than not, the placement of the word "only" is to blame.

The Case of Review - See if you can figure out what is going wrong here.

Active Practice - Locate the complete position of the misplaced modifier and make the needed corrections.

Missed Choices - These sentences will throw you for a loop in many cases.

Clarifying - Make these statement come across clearly.

Pencil That - Take your time and read these aloud to find what is going on.

Locator - The focus on this worksheet is to determine where the error is positioned within the sentence.

Easy Fix-ins - Make your notes go in the right direction.

Lunch Pail - Put your worker pants on and get after it.

What Is a Misplaced Modifier?

Learning how to communicate in the English language requires knowledge of all the different kinds of grammatical rules. While many rules are easier to get the hang of, learning how to correct and avoid misplaced modifiers can be challenging. Many students have no clue what a misplaced modifier is and often struggle with being able to identify their mistakes.


A misplaced modifier is a word, a phrase, an adverb, an adjective, a clause, etc., that is not linked properly to what it is intended to modify. This usually happens when the phrase or word is placed too far from the subject they have to modify.


For instance, the sentence "Sarah only eats apples" is incorrect as it communicates confusing meanings. The reader is unable to understand whether Sarah eats nothing but apples or whether Sarah just eats the apples and doesn’t cut or clean them first. After correcting the misplaced modifier, the sentence would be Sarah eats only apples.


As a result, the sentence's meaning begins to communicate the wrong, illogical meaning and becomes ambiguous, confusing, and unclear. Moreover, the reader understands a completely different message from the one the writer has tried to communicate.


Let's take a look at all the different kinds of misplaced modifiers, their examples, and how one can correct their mistakes to write a grammatically correct sentence.


Disorganized Adjectives


When an adjective is placed incorrectly or too far from the noun it is meant to modify, it becomes a misplaced adjective. As a result, the meaning of the sentence gets distorted and logic is disturbed.


For example, look at the following sentence:


The guests ate a hot bowl of chicken nuggets last night.


This sentence could suggest that the guests consumed the hot bowl instead. The corrected sentence would be as follows:


The guests ate a bowl of hot chicken nuggets last night.


Disorganized Adverbs


When an adverb is placed incorrectly or too far from the verb or adjective it is intended to modify, it becomes a misplaced adverb. As a result, the sentence becomes ambiguous and confusing.


For instance, look at the following example:


The guests ate the chicken nuggets that I cooked slowly.


This sentence is unclear - were the nuggets eaten slowly or were they cooked slowly? The correct sentence would be as follow:


The guests slowly ate the chicken nuggets that I cooked.


Disorganized Clauses and Phrases


When an entire phrase is placed incorrectly in a sentence in a way that makes the sentence look awkward and illogical, it is called a misplaced phrase.


For instance, look at the example below:


The salesperson sold the sofa to a buyer with wooden handles.


This sentence lacks logic as it communicates that the buyer has wooden handles. Instead, the correct placement of the phrase would return logic to the sentence and will look like this:


The salesperson sold the sofa with wooden handles to a buyer.