The real problem with dangling participles
Frankly speaking, they are not the end of the world
READING THIS sentence, it may occur to you that something is slightly awry with it. Or you may not notice anything wrong at all. The first three words are a “dangling modifier”. This writing fault has been deprecated for over a century. It has made its way into countless usage guides, perhaps because of its catchy and evocative name, as something to be avoided at all costs.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “If you dangle, don’t mangle”
Culture May 7th 2022
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