[👇 Explanation below 👇 ]

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A modifier describes something, or "modifies" it - and it can be a single word like an adjective or adverb, or a phrase of words like a prepositional phrase, gerund phrase (phrase that starts with a gerund, basically), or a descriptive phrase (our name for any phrase that describes something and isn't a prepositional or gerund phrase):

He ate the RED apple. (red = adjective modifier)
She runs REALLY fast. (really = adverb modifier)
I put the phone IN YOUR LOCKER. (in your locker = prepositional phrase modifier).
STANDING IN LINE, Jeff checked his texts. (standing in line = gerund phrase modifier)
ALWAYS THE FIRST TO SMILE, Cynthia had a habit of lightening the mood. (always the first to smile = descriptive phrase modifier)

The Golden Rule with modifiers is that they must go next to what they modify. We say "He ate the red apple," not, "He red the apple ate."

"Red" must go next to what it modifies: the apple.

A Misplaced Modifier Error mistakenly puts a modifier AWAY from the thing it describes, instead of next to it, and this often leads to humorous meanings. "The twin sisters were reunited after 18 years in the checkout line," for example, puts "in the checkout line," after "after 18 years," mistakenly suggesting the sisters had spent 18 years in the checkout line, when really what we want to say is that after 18 years, the sisters reunited in the checkout line.

Misplaced Modifier questions are either long underlined portions, where like an entire line of text is underlined - or they're those questions where you're given 5 different places in a sentence to put a word or phrase. The right answer is to put the modifier RIGHT next to what it's describing.

A Dangling Modifier, meanwhile, is a TYPE of Misplaced Modifier: it puts the mistaken modifier at the beginning of a sentence, follows it with a comma, and then fails to put the thing the modifier was describing right after that comma. E.g.:

"Walking out of the store, the bananas fell all over the pavement."

This Dangling Modifier starts with a gerund phrase "walking out of the store," but then by putting "the bananas" right after it and the comma, the sentence suggests that the bananas were walking out of the store. Bananas don't walk out of stores!

Instead, the sentence should read something like, "While I was walking out of the store, the bananas fell all over the pavement."

On the SAT and ACT, anytime you see a Gerund Phrase beginning a sentence, followed by a comma, be on the lookout for a Dangling Modifier!

Dangling Modifiers can happen with the other four types of modifiers, too, but for some reason they happen most often with Gerund Phrases. So keep your eyes out for Gerund Phrases that begin a sentence! They're likely a Dangling Modifier question, and the right answer will correctly put the thing getting modified RIGHT after the comma.

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