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Dangling Participles

The document explains the concept of dangling participles, which occur when a participle does not correctly refer to the subject of the main clause. It provides examples of correct and incorrect usage, emphasizing the importance of ensuring that participles accurately describe the subject's actions. Additionally, it suggests rewording sentences to clarify meaning and avoid grammatical errors.

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26 views1 page

Dangling Participles

The document explains the concept of dangling participles, which occur when a participle does not correctly refer to the subject of the main clause. It provides examples of correct and incorrect usage, emphasizing the importance of ensuring that participles accurately describe the subject's actions. Additionally, it suggests rewording sentences to clarify meaning and avoid grammatical errors.

Uploaded by

pedroeframos
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Dangling participles

Participles of verbs are often used to introduce subordinate clauses, which give
extra information about the main part of a sentence (known as the main clause).
It’s important to use participles in subordinate clauses correctly. The participle
should always describe an action performed by the subject of the main part of the
sentence. For example:
Mrs Stevens, opening the door quietly, came into the room.
[subject] [participle]

In this sentence, the present participle (opening) in the subordinate clause refers to
the subject of the main clause. Mrs Stevens is both opening the door and coming
into the room.
Sometimes writers forget this rule and begin a sentence with a participle that
doesn’t refer to the subject of their sentence. They then end up with what’s known
as a dangling participle, as in this grammatically incorrect statement:
Travelling to Finland, the weather got colder and colder.
[participle] [subject]

Strictly speaking, this sentence means that it is ‘the weather’ that is ‘travelling to
Finland’, which obviously isn’t what the writer was intending to say. The sentence
needs to be reworded to make the meaning clear and to make it grammatically
correct, e.g.:
As I was travelling to Finland, the weather got colder and colder.
or:

Travelling to Finland, I found that the weather got colder and colder.

You can read more about dangling participles on the Oxford Dictionaries blog.
Here you will find useful tips on spotting dangling participles and avoiding them
when writing.

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