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Example
Wrong: I called Brittney while I was riding my bike on my Apple Watch.
Here, the subject is “I” and the misplaced modifier is “while”. Logically speaking, you don’t ride a bike on an Apple Watch, yet that’s what the sentence appears to be saying.
To correct it, you would either say:
Right: I called Brittney on my Apple Watch while I was riding my bike.
OR
While I was riding my bike, I called Brittney on my Apple Watch.
Sub./Verb In Action
Example:
Wrong: He went fishing, elated.
In this example, the subject “fishing” was not feeling elated. The true subject, “He” felt elated, so he went fishing.
In the correct way of writing, you’ll say:
Correct: Elated, he went fishing.
The relative pronoun should come immediately after its antecedent (i.e. he, him, she, her, etc.).
Relative Pronoun:
a pronoun that often introduces dependent (or relative) clauses in sentences. They can also stand alone as the subject or object of the sentence. (i.e. who, whoever, whom, whomever, that, what, etc.)
Example:
Wrong: Who, by her side, was none other than her best friend, Janet.
Right: It was none other than her best friend, Janet, who was by her side.
If the antecedent consists of a group of words, the relative comes at the end of the group, unless this would cause ambiguity, or uncertainty.
Example:
Ambiguous: Whomsoever other than her best friend, Janet…
Unambiguous: It was her best friend, Janet, who…
A noun in apposition, or relative parallel, may come between an antecedent and a relative pronoun, because in such a combination, no real ambiguity can arise.
Example:
It was the CEO of Nabisco, their cousin, who stole Keebler’s cookie idea.
Apposition:
a relationship between two or more words or phrases in which the two units are grammatically parallel and have the same referent (e.g. my friend Sue ; the first US president, George Washington).
Sub./Verb Example
Wrong: Wordsworth, in the fifth book of The Excursion, gives a minute description of this church.
This is a portrait of Benjamin Harrison, grandson of William Henry Harrison, who became President in 1889.
This is a portrait of Benjamin Harrison, grandson of William Henry Harrison. He became President in 1889.
Examples:
The grandson of William Henry Harrison, who…
William Henry Harrison’s grandson, Benjamin Harrison who…
Example:
The Duke of York, his brother, who was regarded by the Whigs…