Do You Have a Dangling Participle?

For that matter, what is a dangling participle?

Those of you who have followed the blog for a while know that I periodically gather questions people ask on Twitter with an eye toward writing a larger response here. Some questions simply require more space or finesse than 280 characters will allow.

This isn’t one of them. But I’m going to do it anyway, because it has been too damned long since you friendly folks have heard from me!

As you can see from the first sentence, the question of the day is, “What is a dangling participle?”

First, what is a Participle?

Before we can spot one dangerously dangling over…something that things are known to dangerously dangle over, it would be a good idea to define it.

It’s actually pretty simple, once you boil it down. A participle is a verb that acts like an adjective.

Okay. But, in what way does it act like an adjective? Well, adjectives modify nouns and pronouns. So, if a participle is a verb that’s acting like an adjective, then it must be a verb that modifies a noun or pronoun in your sentence.

“Running through the doorway, I spotted the car right where I left it.”

I spotted the car. Can you spot the participle? If you guessed “running”, you’re correct. But, what does “running” modify in the example sentence? It modifies “I”. I was the one who was running through the doorway. This sentence, though in dire need of a rewrite, is an example of how not to dangle your participle.

How does one Dangle?

Let’s get straight to the point. A dangling participle is a participle whose modified noun or pronoun is missing from the sentence. It’s a common misconception that “dangling participle” implies something at the end of a sentence. Though a dangling participle can appear at the end (as it does in the video example above from the movie Oscar… lawd I love that movie…), it often doesn’t. Let’s abuse the first example sentence I wrote earlier and force a dangling participle.

“Running through the doorway, the car was right where I left it.”

In this case, we have a muddled impression of what running is intended to modify.

The devil, as they say, is in the details. depending on the context surrounding this sentence wherever it appears, it will be more or less confusing. Taken by itself, it seems to imply the car was the object running through the doorway. The surrounding context will either make this more or less of a plausible intention.

But, I’m not here to tell you what you should do. I’m merely here to describe what a dangling participle is. Usage should be left up to the writer. I don’t specifically mention dangling participles in my revision checklists because I don’t want to confuse you into thinking these are evil constructs of the language that should be eradicated. As always, I would never suggest or imply that proper grammar should trump characterization. But, that’s a topic for a different post.

Now, go forth and dangle! Or not! Whatever!

---

Sign up for the free Erindor Press newsletter. Stay Informed. Be a better writer. Your contact information will NEVER be shared for ANY reason. Join Nat on Facebook for additional content that he doesn’t post on the blog or on Twitter. Be part of the conversation! Head on over to The Mukhtaar Estate and see what everyone’s talking about!

---