Editing Grammatical modifier (section)

==Ambiguous and dangling modifiers==
{{main|Dangling modifier}}
Sometimes it is not clear which element of the sentence a modifier is intended to modify. In many cases this is not important, but in some cases it can lead to genuine [[ambiguity]]. For example:
*''He painted her sitting on the step.''
Here the participial phrase ''sitting on the step'' may be intended to modify ''her'' (meaning that the painting's subject was sitting on the step), or it may be intended to modify the verb phrase ''painted her'' or the whole clause ''he painted her'' (or just ''he''), meaning in effect that it was the painter who was sitting on the step.

Sometimes the element which the modifier is intended to modify does not in fact appear in the sentence, or is not in an appropriate position to be associated with that modifier. This is often considered a grammatical or stylistic error. For example:
*''Walking along the road, a vulture loomed overhead.''
Here whoever was "walking along the road" is not mentioned in the sentence, so the modifier (''walking along the road'') has nothing to modify, except ''a vulture'', which is clearly not the intention. Such a case is called a "dangling modifier", or more specifically, in the common case where (as here) the modifier is a participial phrase, a "dangling participle".