Hello, I have to revise these sentences for dangling modifiers and I wanted to see if I did it correctly. First sentence: Flying over the oak tree, the farmer saw the flock of birds that had damaged his crops. I revised it to: Damagins his crops, the farmer saw the flock of birds flying over the oak tree. Second sentence: Ironing out all wrinkles, the pants looked much more presentable: Revised: Looking more presentable the wrinkles were ironed out. Third sentence: The poliece chief posted the mandate against hubcap theft on Monday afternoon: I changed it to: no change. Thanks

Question

Hello, I have to revise these sentences for dangling modifiers and I wanted to see if I did it correctly. First sentence: Flying over the oak tree, the farmer saw the flock of birds that had damaged his crops. I revised it to: Damagins his crops, the farmer saw the flock of birds flying over the oak tree. Second sentence: Ironing out all wrinkles, the pants looked much more presentable: Revised: Looking more presentable the wrinkles were ironed out. Third sentence: The poliece chief posted the mandate against hubcap theft on Monday afternoon: I changed it to: no change. Thanks

First sentence: Flying over the oak tree, the farmer saw the flock of birds that had damaged his crops. I revised it to: Damagins his crops, the farmer saw the flock of birds flying over the oak tree.
The problem with both sentences is that the farmer is doing something he cannot or would not. Would the farmer fly over the oak tree? Would the farmer damage his crops? If you want to keep the beginning of the second sentence the same, ask yourself this: What was damaging his crops? The answer to that question should be the next couple of words in the main clause of the sentence. Now -- how would you revise it?

Second sentence: Ironing out all wrinkles, the pants looked much more presentable: Revised: Looking more presentable the wrinkles were ironed out.
Again -- were the wrinkles looking more presentable? Of course not! So ... who was looking more presentable? The answer should be the subject of the main clause. How would you revise it?

Third sentence: The poliece chief posted the mandate against hubcap theft on Monday afternoon: I changed it to: no change.
When did he post it? On Monday afternoon? Or did the hubcap theft occur on Monday afternoon? If you mean that's when the hubcap theft occurred, then you're right: no change. But if the mandate was posted on Monday afternoon, then you need to revise it.

Please re-post with your answers.

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Here's a website to help:

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/modifiers.htm

=)

Answer 1

Here are the corrected revisions for the sentences:

First sentence: "The farmer saw the flock of birds that had damaged his crops flying over the oak tree."
Explanation: The main subject of the sentence is the farmer, so the farmer should be the one doing the action. Therefore, "flying over the oak tree" should be placed after "the flock of birds."

Second sentence: "The pants looked much more presentable after ironing out all wrinkles."
Explanation: The subject of the main clause, which is "the pants," should be the one looking more presentable. Therefore, "Looking more presentable" should be replaced with "The pants looked much more presentable."

Third sentence: No change is needed.
Explanation: If the mandate was posted on Monday afternoon, as mentioned in the original sentence, then no change is necessary. However, if the hubcap theft occurred on Monday afternoon, then the sentence would need to be revised to clarify that.