Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeNewYork  This is what is called a dangling participle or a misplaced modifier... |
I've met the term 'mis-related clause'. Anyway, it's the same thing
. Pay particular attention to the second of riverkid's quoted paragraphs; in informal contexts (and increasingly in informal ones, I'm afraid) this sort of mistake is very common. A lot of people aren't aware of it at all, and some don't care as long as there's no
functional ambiguity: in "Walking across the playground, he saw his friend waving from the classroom on the second floor" there's little risk that anyone will really understand the first clause as referring to the friend, even though that's what the grammar implies.
b