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Writing Skills

Brush up on your grammar and punctuation skills to polish your final drafts.

Misplaced Modifiers

Modifiers should be placed next to the words they modify to avoid ambiguity in sentences.

Correcting Misplaced Modifiers

Place single word adjectives before the word they modify and adjective phrases or clauses right after the word they modify.

Examples:

  • INCORRECT: I took my dog for a walk in sweatpants.
  • CORRECT:  I wore sweatpants when I walked my dog.
  • INCORRECT: Damon was praised for his work ethic by his boss.
  • CORRECT:  The boss praised Damon for his work ethic.
  • INCORRECT: Annie was corrected after she answered the question by her teacher.
  • CORRECT:  Annie was corrected by her teacher after she answered the question.