Question type

Dangling and misplaced modifiers on the SAT

When a sentence opens with a descriptive phrase and a comma, the noun right after the comma must be the thing the phrase describes. "Released at the point representing the capital, the slime mold produced" is right because the slime mold was released. If the phrase describes something else, the modifier dangles.

An opening descriptive phrase ends at the blank, and the choices start the main clause with different subjects or word orders.

College Board's question bank has 25 of these, and 60% are rated Hard.

25 in College Board's question bank, 60% rated Hard
Reading it aloud misleads

Why students miss it

A logical-sounding subject that is not the thing described: "researchers observed" after a phrase about the slime mold.

A passive or "there" construction that avoids naming the right noun.

Reading the whole choice for meaning instead of checking its first noun.

How to spot it

A sentence that starts with a phrase like "Buried beneath ...", "Compared with ...", "Released at ...".
A comma right before the blank.
Choices that begin with different nouns.

The method

Who or what?

Ask who or what the opening phrase describes.

The choice starts with that noun: keep it.
The choice starts with anything else: rule it out.

Does reading it aloud help?

Dangling modifiers sound natural in speech; the sentence's meaning, not its sound, decides.

Ask "who was compared?" or "what was buried?", and look for that noun first after the comma.

Two real questions

From the 1500prep bank, the way the app shows them. Answer first, then open the explanation.

1Question 1 of 2#2190Conv

In 1994, a park officer exploring a valley northwest of Sydney encountered an unfamiliar tree whose fernlike branches were unlike those of any known conifer. Compared with fossil impressions from the Jurassic period, nearly identical to that of a conifer family long thought extinct.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

Pick an answer, then check it.

Show the answer and explanation

The opening phrase "Compared with fossil impressions from the Jurassic period" describes whatever was compared with the fossils. That was the tree's foliage. "Its foliage was" puts "foliage" right after the comma as the subject, so the modifier attaches correctly: the foliage, compared with the fossils, was nearly identical to that of an extinct conifer family. "That of" also matches foliage with foliage, so the comparison is logical.

2Question 2 of 2#1509Conv

In a 2010 experiment, biologist Atsushi Tero arranged oat flakes on a moist surface in a pattern mirroring cities surrounding Tokyo. Released at the point representing the capital, a network of nutrient-carrying tubes strikingly similar to the region's actual railway system within twenty-six hours.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

Pick an answer, then check it.

Show the answer and explanation

The sentence opens with the modifier "Released at the point representing the capital." A modifier like this describes the subject that comes right after the comma, so that subject must be the thing that was released. It was the slime mold, the organism that grew the tube network. "The slime mold produced" puts the correct subject right after the modifier and gives it a verb whose object is "a network of nutrient-carrying tubes." This avoids a dangling modifier.

Questions students ask

What is a dangling modifier on the SAT?

An opening phrase that describes something other than the noun right after the comma. "Compared with fossils, botanists judged the foliage" says the botanists were compared with fossils.

What is the fastest way to answer modifier questions?

Ask what the opening phrase describes, then pick the only choice that starts with that noun. You rarely need to read the rest.

Practise this type until it is automatic

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