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Difficulty: MediumMisplaced and Dangling Modifiers

In the following sentence, the introductory phrase is a dangling modifier because it does not logically modify the subject of the main clause:

"While examining the fossilized dinosaur egg under a microscope, tiny fractures in the shell were noticed by the researcher."

To correct this error, the sentence must be revised so that the subject of the main clause is the person performing the action of examining. Fill in the blank to complete the corrected sentence using the correct noun phrase from the original sentence.

Answer:While examining the fossilized dinosaur egg under a microscope, 【the researcher】 noticed tiny fractures in the shell.

Answer

the researcher
The introductory phrase describes the act of examining a dinosaur egg under a microscope. The logical subject who performs this action is the researcher. Therefore, the main clause must begin with 'the researcher' to ensure the modifier correctly describes the subject.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the introductory modifying phrase and the action it describes.
The phrase is 'While examining the fossilized dinosaur egg under a microscope,' which describes the action of examining.
To correct a dangling modifier, you must determine who or what logically performs the action described by the modifier.
2
Identify the logical subject from the rest of the sentence.
The original sentence states 'tiny fractures... were noticed by the researcher.' The researcher is the entity performing the action of examining.
Tiny fractures cannot look through a microscope; only a person (the researcher) can do this.
3
Place the logical subject immediately after the comma to serve as the subject of the main clause.
The corrected main clause starts with 'the researcher' as the subject, followed by the active verb 'noticed'.
This establishes a logical relationship between the introductory modifier and the subject of the sentence, correcting the dangling modifier.

Key Concept

A dangling modifier occurs when the noun or pronoun being modified is either missing or incorrectly identified in the sentence. When a sentence begins with an introductory participial or prepositional phrase, the noun that immediately follows the comma must be the logical subject performing the action of that phrase.
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Topics

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

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