Grammatically Correct: The writer's essential guide to punctuation ...

Positioning Modifiers
Correctly
A modifier is an element of a sentence that describes or qualifies
some other element. Adjectives and adverbs are the most common
modifiers (the leafy trees swayed gracefully in the tantalizingly
cool breeze), but a phrase or dependent clause can act as one too.
You must ensure that all parts in a sentence are positioned so
that any modifying element is acting upon what it is supposed to.
Failure to do so may lead to some rather disconcerting results. There
are three types of problems to look out for:
• Dangling modifiers
• Misplaced modifiers
• Squinting modifiers
These are described in turn below, followed by an exercise that
presents examples of all three.
DANGLING MODIFIERS
If a sentence is carelessly constructed so that the entity to be
modified is implied rather than explicitly stated, the modifier is left
"dangling"-left at loose ends as it were-and in the absence of
the intended "modify-ee" ends up latching onto whatever element
happens to be in the appropriate position. The result is a nonsense
sentence. The absurdities that result from dangling modifiers can
range from the obvious to the subtle; the latter are more dangerous
in that they're less easy to spot. English is a forgiving language, so
even when syntax is garbled, readers will often process a sentence
as the writer intended it.
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