| 词组 | dangling modifiers |
| 释义 | dangling modifiers English has a common construction called the participial phrase: • Happening to meet Sir Adam Ferguson, I presented him to Dr. Johnson —James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson, 1791 In Boswell's sentence, the subject of the main clause— I—is the same as that of the phrase, and it is accordingly omitted from the phrase, leaving the phrase to modify the subject of the main clause. But frequently the subject of the phrase is omitted when it would have been different from that of the main clause; the resultant participial phrase is often called a dangling participle—the most commonly mentioned kind of dangling modifier: • Drake continued his course for Porto Rico; and riding within the road, a shot from the Castle entered the steerage of the ship —Thomas Fuller, The Holy State and the Profane State, 1642 (in Hall 1917) • Speaking as an old friend, there has been a disturbing tendency in statements emanating from Peking to question the good faith of President Reagan —Richard M. Nixon (cited by William Safire, N. Y. Times Mag., 19 June 1983) Now when the same construction can be found in the writings of Thomas Fuller in the 17th century and a speech of Richard Nixon in 1983, you might suspect that it is a very common one indeed. It is, and a venerable one: Hall 1917 cites studies that have found it as far back as Chaucer; he himself found it in the writings of 68 authors from Shakespeare to Robert Louis Stevenson. Yet just about every rhetoric, grammar, and handbook written since the latter part of the 19th century warns the student against such constructions. Why the fuss? Bryant 1962 states the reason succinctly: "in some sentences the reader is misled into attaching the modifier to a subject which it does not meaningfully modify." When such misleading actually occurs, the result can be a howler. Here are a few examples (the sources given are the books wherein they are cited): • Turning the corner, a handsome school building appeared —Bryant 1962 • Flying low, a herd of cattle could be seen —Paul Roberts, Understanding Grammar, 1954 • Walking over the hill on the left, the clubhouse can be clearly seen —Freeman 1983 • Quickly summoning an ambulance, the corpse was carried to the mortuary —Barzun 1985 The point that must be made here is that these funny examples have apparently been invented for the purpose of illustration. Actual dangling participles are more often of such nature as to excite little mirth; indeed, they may hardly be noticeable except to the practicing rhetorician or usage expert. We have already seen two genuine examples; here are a few more: • Returning to a consideration of the extracurricular activities of the undergraduate, the continued significance of the intramural program of athletics should be stressed —James B. Conant, President's Report, Harvard University, 1950-1951 • Unless appreciated when young an effort is required to "get into them" —Leacock 1943 • ... wanting to be alone with his family, the presence of a stranger superior to Mr. Yates must have been irksome —Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, 1814 • Born and raised in city apartments, it was always a marvel to me —Arthur Miller (in Simon 1980) When a genuinely funny dangler actually occurs, it is sure to be repeated in a collection of humorous mistakes, as this one was: • After years of being lost under a pile of dust, Walter P. Stanley, III, left, found all the old records of the Bangor Lions Club —Bangor Daily News, 20 Jan. 1978 (reprinted in SQUAD HELPS DOG BITE VICTIM and Other Flubs, 1980) Dangling participles are not the only dangling modifier that students are warned against—clauses, prepositional phrases, infinitives, and appositives can all be misrelated in such a way as to be characterized as dangling: • It is a fact often observed, that men have written good verses under the inspiration of passion, who cannot write well under any other circumstances — Ralph Waldo Emerson (in Hall 1917) • The patience of all the founders of the Society was at last exhausted, except me and Roebuck —John Stuart Mill (in Barzun 1985) • Distinguished public servant, exemplar for the United States Foreign Service, tireless seeker of peace, your work in arduous posts around the globe has repeatedly demonstrated —in Harper 1985 Like the dangling participle, these other dangling constructions are both common and of considerable historical and literary background. Hall 1917 found more than 800 examples in more than 100 authors from Bishop Latimer in the 16th century to his own time. The usual reason given for avoiding such constructions is clarity, but in most cases the meaning can be readily discovered, even if the sentence is not expressed in the most elegant manner. The important thing to avoid is a juxtaposition that produces an unintended humorous effect. Unintentional humor seems most likely to be created when writing of an unusually compact nature is intended—a caption under a picture, a newspaper account, a dictionary definition. Here is a single example from each; the perpetrators have not been named, but we must confess that the dictionary definition formerly appeared in a Merriam-Webster dictionary: • After being crushed to predetermined particle size Babcock's fluidized bed combustor can be fired with any solid, liquid, or gas fuel —caption Jerry Remy then hit an RBI single off Haas' leg, which rolled into right field —newspaper account [a plant] native to Europe but introduced elsewhere with silky hairs over the entire plant —dictionary definition The last two of these illustrate a problem that many writers working under deadline have faced: given two different kinds of modifiers following a noun, which order do you put them in? In some circumstances there may be no entirely satisfactory answer, and under a deadline there may not be much time for rewriting. Conclusion: dangling modifiers are common, old, and well-established in English literature. When the meaning is not ambiguous, Bryant 1962 allows them to be "informal standard usage." The evidence in Hall 1917 and other sources shows they are not infrequent in literature of a more elevated sort. Who has censured the dangling modifier in these lines from Pope? • Vice is a creature of such frightful mien As, to be hated, needs but to be seen. But seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace.—in Barnard 1979 The one pitfall that must be avoided is unconscious humor, which is perhaps most likely when a writer has two different modifiers—say, a prepositional phrase and a clause—that attach to the same noun. The dangling modifier is a venial sin at most, but if you com nUt an unintentional howler, you are liable to be ridiculed. See also sentence adverb. |
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