Grammar Guide

Dangling Participles

A participle is a word formed from a verb and used as an adjective to tell us more information about the noun that follows it. In the phrase working woman for example, working is a participle that comes from the verb to work, and is used as an adjective to describe the noun woman. 

A participial phrase is a phrase that contains a participle and modifies the subject of a sentence.

Example: Working in the office, the woman dreamed about a vacation. 

Working in the office is a participial phrase that modifies the subject, the woman. The participle is still working, and the phrase describes what the woman is doing.

A dangling participle occurs when a participial phrase modifies the wrong subject. 

Example: Walking along the trail, a fallen tree blocked our way.

The participial phrase is walking along the trail, but the subject that follows the phrase is a fallen tree. Even though logically we know that a fallen tree can’t walk, grammatically it’s the subject that the participial phrase is modifying. 

To fix this dangling participle, we can add the proper subject directly after the participial phrase.

Example: Walking along the trail, we found a fallen tree blocking our way. 

Now it’s clear that walking along the trail modifies the subject we. 

 

Practice:

1. Identify what subject the participial phrases modify in the following sentences. Identify and correct any dangling participles. 

1. Leaving behind the heavy book, Eli borrowed three novels from the library.
2. Wishing the weather would change, the rain poured down even harder.  
3. Moving the old couch, dust rose in a cloud.
4. Wandering over to another group, the teacher asked if the students had any questions.

2. Write a sentence correctly using a participial phrase. Use painting as the participle and the artist as the subject. 

 

Answers:

1. Subjects and Dangling Participles:

1. Subject: Eli

No dangling participle

2. Subject: the rain

Dangling participle corrected: Wishing the weather would change, I noticed the rain poured down even harder.

*Answers may vary if you choose a different subject than I, a different verb than noticed, etc. 

3. Subject: dust

Dangling participle corrected: Moving the old couch, we saw dust rise in a cloud.

*Answers may vary

4. Subject: the teacher

No dangling participle

2. Answers will vary. Example answer: Painting a new subject, the artist carefully mixed her colours. 

 

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