Dear Geist,

What is a dangling modifier, and how can I recognize one?

—Joelle, Tofino BC

Dear Joelle,

In the clear, gracious words of Margery Fee and Janice McAlpine, authors of the Oxford Guide to Canadian English Usage, “Sometimes part of a sentence . . . does not modify any other part of the sentence.” That dangler may slip by unnoticed, or it may be a howler, as in Fee and McAlpine's example: “Once taken to pieces, you should carefully clean the rust off the parts.”

Your best test to catch danglers, and to make sure everything else in your writing is tickety-boo, is to read aloud what you have written, very slowly, and to listen to every syllable.

—The Editors