Which sentence contains a misplaced modifier?

A.This cake that has the chocolate icing is the bakery's best-selling item.

B.The landlord put the key back on the counter that he uses to unlock the front door.

C.The trainer whose dog obeys so well typically enters her dog in this competition.

D.The artist from whom Mary bought the painting generally uses oils and pastels.

A modifier should be as close as possible to the word it modifies. A misplaced modifies is closer to a word it couldn't modify.

Which do you think is the misplaced modifier?

I tried to unlock the front door with a counter, but it wouldn't fit.

so is it B???

Yes, B.

To identify the sentence that contains a misplaced modifier, we need to examine each sentence and look for modifiers that are not placed near the words they are modifying.

A. "This cake that has the chocolate icing is the bakery's best-selling item."
In this sentence, the modifier "that has the chocolate icing" is placed immediately after "cake," indicating that the chocolate icing is specifically on that cake. Therefore, it does not appear to contain a misplaced modifier.

B. "The landlord put the key back on the counter that he uses to unlock the front door."
In this sentence, the modifier "that he uses to unlock the front door" is placed after "counter," but it should be placed after "key" to clarify that the key is what the landlord uses to unlock the front door. Therefore, this sentence contains a misplaced modifier.

C. "The trainer whose dog obeys so well typically enters her dog in this competition."
In this sentence, "whose dog obeys so well" is appropriately placed after "trainer" to clarify who has the well-behaved dog. Therefore, it does not contain a misplaced modifier.

D. "The artist from whom Mary bought the painting generally uses oils and pastels."
In this sentence, "from whom Mary bought the painting" is correctly placed after "artist" to identify the person from whom Mary purchased the painting. Therefore, it does not contain a misplaced modifier.

Thus, the sentence that contains a misplaced modifier is B. "The landlord put the key back on the counter that he uses to unlock the front door."