Chapter 16: Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers

- Modifiers - describe words

- qualify, limit, explain, intensify
- dangling - does not clearly relate
- misplaced - relates to the wrong element
Exercise 1
1) You can use a conversation guide to learn enough French to ask common questions.
2) It is important for a swimmer caught in a rip current not to panic.
3) One should wear sunglasses dark enough to hide the eyes in order to see well on the water.
4) Celtics won a well-deserved trophy by beating Milwaukee.
5) In order to understand the Welsh terrain, one must buy an atlas.
6) Potential nurses will be encouraged by the scholarship awards worth $10,000.
7) Adequate funds must be available for a gubernatorial candidacy to work efficiently.
8) The bay was kicking up white caps from the wind blowing from the north.
9) Annual reports of the Loch Ness Phenomena Investigation Bureau can be studied to learn more about
the Loch Ness monster.
10) Most experts say that for a chip to be effective, it must operate in either parallel or serial mode.
11) Motown changed the direction of American music by blending Hollywood glamour and soul music.
12) The department has become specialized because of the growing interest.
13) The snake's mouth was open in an attempt to bite its prey.
14) French became the language of government after a French Monarch ascended the English throne.
15) The balance sheet should be organized properly to avoid confusion.
Exercise 2
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

There was a pleasant atmosphere in the office after it was redecorated.

I was convinced by his argument even if he was annoying.
A few details were added to make the story more gruesome when repeated.
You should set the pie aside while you make the meringue.
You must know Fortran before enrolling in the class.

Exercise 3
1) We went to a controversial movie about a criminal.
2) The campers, who didn't have any water, hiked to the end of the island.
3) Mrs Jones decided to hang her father's two swords on the wall.
4) The soap opera we often watch has characters suffering from amnesia.
5) McLemore wrote in a letter that the computer would probably arrive on Tuesday fiy.
6) The fisherman decided to clean the fish on the dock
7) A therapy session from 5:00 to 7:30 PM will be held for students who have crises.
8) He almost received enough money to retire when he won the Nobel Prize for chemistry.
9) The sailboat moving slowly through the water came into view.
10) I expect an adult golden retriever to be a well-mannered dog and companion.
11)
12)
13)
14)
15)

Johnson tried to always have a lot of money in his account.

The suspect was immediately arrested by the summoned police officer.
In the first chapter, the author said that he opposed taxation on property.
The computer has only one disk drive
I now had to consult the class notes the instructor gave the class on how to design a title page.

Exercise 4

Wearing Western clothes to events like football games and movies makes someone look strange
and out of place. Western dress only looks natural while working around horses and cattle.
Cowboy clothes are practical for a ranch hand. He can simplify his life and use a cowboy hat for a
variety of everyday needs. He can wear the hat to protect his skin from sunburn, or he can fill it with water
and use it as a cup. He can also use the hat to urge the horse he is riding to move faster.
Riders wear specially shaped long and narrow boots for a good reason; it allows a stirrup to be used
with ease. These boots also cover the lower leg and protect the wearer from snake bites.
Ranch hands wear bandanas knotted around their necks. They tie bandanas around their faces to
protect their noses and mouths from dust. Riders tie their bandanas to their hats to keep the bandanas
from blowing away. They wear wet bandanas on their heads to eliminate the heat. If needed, bandanas can
also be tourniquets.
Western shirts have a practical design for roping wild steer. The shirts broad shoulders provide
room for easy movement. The shirts tapered body also ensures it does not get caught on the horns of an
angry steer. Finally, the shirt uses snaps instead of buttons so it can be popped open in case a horn gets
stuck in it.
Being familiar with the purpose of Western clothes, they look silly on people who have never seen a
horse. In fact, wearing cowboy boots and a Stetson hat to a football game is as ridiculous as wearing
penny loafers and a blazer to herd cattle.
Chapter 17: Shifts
Exercise 1
1) The dictionary lists the most common part of speech first, and gives the most frequent meaning as the
first definition.
2) In Spanish, macho is an adjective meaning manly; machismo is a noun that meant masculinity.
3) If the driver is equipped with the new tank, he can stay underwater for eight hours.
4) The litigants would have spent thousands of dollars before an agreement could be reached.
5) In emergencies, pause, and take a couple of deep breaths.
6) By providing a puppy with the proper atmosphere, good habits can be promoted; and then trainability
can be established.
7) If I can go to bed earlier I will get more done during the day.
8) In reviews, critics usually point out when actors have overplayed scenes.
9) The doctor suggests that lowering my salt intake will reduce hypertension.
10) In Orwell's 1984, the government planned an official Newspeak dictionary, which was supposed to set
free the world of words like justice, morality, and science.

Exercise 2
1) Don't submit your manuscripts in ornamental binders; you should put your manuscripts in plain folders
or boxes.
2) Travelers should consult several guides, for those who do no research are sure to miss many
opportunities.
3) These four courses each require one-hour labs.
4) You will find the microcomputer especially valuable when you prepare proposals because you can easily
pull together previously stored data.
5) At first, math teachers objected to the student use of pocket calculators; now, however, they usually see
the value of one.
Exercise 3
1) People began to emphasize classical art and culture during the Renaissance.
2) Using garbage as an energy source is a capacity to save money.
3) There was a boycott because the company charged too much rent.
4) The lady protested indignantly, "What do you mean you won't take dogs? My Fifi will never stay in a
kennel!".

5)
6)
7)
8)

The growing number of women in the police force is an improvement that has produced results.
He quit his job because he wanted to move to Florida.
The idea to reduce the car's weight will reduce gasoline use.
She feels working at two jobs will let her make enough money to buy a motorcycle.

Exercise 4
The American Computer Chess Championship is a contest sponsored annually by the Association for
Computing Machinery. This contest is not really between computers but between their programmers.
Programmers must spend hours getting programs ready. They can spend their lifetimes working to write
successful chess programs.
Look at the winning Cray Blitz program, the programmers estimate that they have spent 32,000
man hours on the program. The programmers have entered 100,000 opening chess positions because
opening moves are important. They not only have to type, they also have to analyze these possible moves.
Some of the moves chess textbooks recommend will not be the next best move possible so programmers
cannot rely on them. Programmers must also look at many possible moves, not just one at a time, but
usually about four and a half moves at the same time.
The programs still cannot beat the best human players despite all of the programmers' efforts that
go into programming chess strategy. If a programmer creates a chess program, he must be sure not to
challenge a human player, but other machines and their programmers instead. challenge other machines
and their programmers, not human players.
Chapter 18: Split Constructions
Exercise 1
1) According to the general rule of mortgage law, the lender can foreclose on your property if you default
on mortgage payments.
2) Warm Springs, Georgia is where Franklin D. Roosevelt went to try to recover the use of his legs in the
warm baths. It is now a rehabilitation center.
3) With great inventiveness, the English architects changed whatever they imported to fit the British
climate and temperament.
4) Surprisingly, the first mechanical adding machine was invented by Blaise Pascal in 1642 when he was
just a teenager.
5) In agriculture, the focus of genetic research has been to safely increase yield and to effectively make
plants resistant to disease and damage.
6) Maps of the electrical circuit are first drawn by engineers to make a computer chip. Engineers draw
these maps either by hand or by computer.
7) A "serendipity" is something you happen to find without looking for it.
8) According to Tom Wolfe, Elvis Presley was a "Valentino for poor whites".
9) Rudolf Flesch has devised a formula that measures the reading level of prose. He is the author of
numerous books on reading and what he calls, "readability".
10) Portions of the Conewago River were unable to support the reproduction of trout satisfactorily.
Exercise 2
With my parents' insistence, I took French in high school. At that time, I had no idea why they
demanded that I learn a foreign language. No one around me spoke French. I obediently enrolled anyway,
but there was no incentive to industriously and enthusiastically study. France was very far away. In no flight
of fancy had I any idea of ever meeting a native.
As you might had guessed, I did not apply myself to learning. However, I did come to intensely love
the sound of French; it made the dullest statements sound romantic and interesting. But after weeks and
weeks of struggling, I could never master the r in the throat or the n or m in the nose. Another problem
was in some spoken word phrases that the French ran together. For example, les hommes (the men) when
spoken sounded like laysohm.

I managed to learn vocabulary like boeuf for beef, porc for pork, and juin for June without difficulty.
But with my limited effort, other words were much harder to learn.
The worst problem was that the nouns were masculine or feminine. For some very strange reason,
the book (le livre) was masculine; for an equally strange reason, the chair (la chaise) was feminine.
This summer I have a chance to visit Paris. I have real regrets about not studying, and will probably
have to depend on sign language and pity from the French to survive.
Chapter 19: Incomplete Constructions
Exercise 1
1) Many customers are insisting on and purchasing foods low in sodium, sugar, and fat.
2) The writer and the director we heard speak last year in New York will both be on the panel.
3) The Huntsville area was once known as an agricultural center; now, it is known as a center for high
technology.
4) The hotel has not charged and does not plan to charge guests for telephone calls.
5) Some states have seen an increase in unemployment; while our state has seen a decrease.
Exercise 2
1) John Brookings added that the loans by the bank had been excessive.
2) The recent graduates said that when they tried to get jobs, they had no success.
3) The budget cuts have proved that the answer can come from financial control.
4) The students estimated that they would make more money in California.
5) I read that the indictment was not made public for three weeks.
Exercise 3
1) Few candidates have had their campaigns aided by an exceedingly influential a supporter as Mayor
Nelson.
2) The computers at the library work very slowly.
3) They installed the most sophisticated stereo equipment available in the market.
4) The Washington Monument is nearer the Mall than it is to the Lincoln Memorial.
5) Louisianas shrimp season begins earlier than the shrimp seasons of other gulf states.
6) The Sears Tower in Chicago is taller than any other building in America.
7) The jazz performance tonight was such a brilliant one.
8) Cheese has far more fat than butter.
9) The volcano is as dangerous as, perhaps even more dangerous than, Mt. St. Helens.
10) The damage done by the water was more serious than that done by the wind.
Exercise 4
Horse racing is more harmful to horses than any other sport. I once considered it exciting, but now
consider it inhumane. I have come to realize that profits are more important to owners than the horses are
themselves.
Races are scheduled very often. The owners do not take into consideration that the general health
of the horses may be endangered by fatigue. Even bad weather does not often cause the cancellation of
races.
Sometimes the race track surface is too hard for the horses. Horses' legs are more fragile than
many other animals'. Numerous injuries are caused, and are a result of this physical abuse. Drugging
horses is crueler than any other treatments. I have noticed that drugs like narcotics are still used at many
racetracks. The horses run unaffected and unaware of pain.
Probably some owners treat their horses humanely. But others have never considered and will
never consider the welfare of their horses to be as important as, or more important than, profits.
Chapter 20: Parallelism
Exercise 1

1) The book is divided into two sections - the first focuses on individuals and the second examines
generalizations.
2) We wrote a letter intended to eliminate the confusion but it was apparently not received.
3) In temperament, not in appearance, he resembled his mother.
4) The story is not only puzzling but is also disturbing to the ordinary reader.
5) A fly ball is a hit, a fielder must judge where the ball will come down and how fast he must run to get
there.
6) Future space explorations will require flights not of days but of years.
7) I would rather suffer through a boring lecture them miss out on important information.
8) We have neither the time nor the means to learn German before our trip.
9) The book covers information from the discovery of the site to the display of the artifacts in the Egyptian
museum.
10) The campers were either staying in their cabins or eating in the mess hall.
Exercise 2
1) I find your continuing chauvinistic attitude offensive, sophomoric, and a simple display of the worst
taste.
2) Computers are capable of programming, remembering, scanning, and sorting information.
3) The author is a distinguished journalist, lecturer, and writer of over fifteen books.
4) The most successful adults have learned to channel their energy, to empathize with others, and to fit
into a suitable society.
5) A marketing research assistant has these duties:
-designing marketing research studies
-interpreting research results
-operating a research data retrieval system
-monitoring existing products
Exercise 3
1) bitter tears
2) how we got expelled from it.
3) over the glen
4) worth it
5) to make flash animation
6) haphazardly
7) what it does
8) serve a three month suspension
9) When you buy luxury items
10) what camera you use
Exercise 4 (sorry, i don't know any American Football)
In football games, the job of the officials is not easy. They must be ready to react to such confusing
plays as blocked kicks, fumbled snaps and catches, illegal goal line plays, impossible end zone plays; and
they must be ready to decide wether a player is eligible or not. They must be aware both of when a foul
occurs and of where the ball is at the time of the foul.
Officials must not only know all the rules but must also be able to remember them instantly. They
must cope with such complicated infractions as these:
- when a fair catch caller does an illegal block
- when a player either runs into or roughs up the kicker or the holder
- when a player bats the ball forward in the field of play or kicks it backward out of the end zone
- when a player runs noncontact interference with the opportunity to catch a kick
No official can stop the game, get out the rule book, study the details, and then call the play.
The officials' job though is not just calling the plays on the field; but also includes dealing with the
players themselves. Players frequently play very aggressively, not cooperatively. Officials must make sure
that all players are under control and that all players respect the whistle which signals the end of play. To

ensure this control, officials must stay alert and be able to move quickly to the location of the infraction.
The players must either respond to this authority or be removed from the game.
The next time you disagree with an official, or hear one booed by fans, take pity. It's hard work.