To learn dangling participle, it is important to first understand what is a participle phrase.

A participle phrase is a group of words including present participle (1st form of verb + ing) or past participle (2nd form of a verb). It is generally a part of a sentence. It acts as a modifier in a sentence which means that it gives more information about the other words (e.g., a clause) in the sentence. See the following example.

• She gained a lot of weight eating sweets for a long time.

In the above example, the first part ‘she gained a lot of weight’ is a clause. The second part ‘eating sweets for a long time’ is a participle phrase because it consists of the present participle (eating). The first part (She gained a lot of weight) is a clause which can stand alone as a complete sentence because it can give a complete meaning. However, the participle phrase provides more information about this clause such as that why she gained a lot of weight. It tells that she ate sweets for a long time which caused her to gain a lot of weight.

A dangling participle is a participle phrase which does not clearly refer to the part of a sentence that is modified by it. It confuses the reader to think which part of the sentence (e.g. a word, or clause) is modified by it. It is basically a writing mistake. Sometimes a sentence may be wrongly structured where a participle phrase may dangle between or among the parts of a sentence.

 Example 1. Dangling participle (present participle).

• Flying in the sky, I saw a huge flock of birds.

In the above example, the participle phrase ‘flying in the sky’ is a dangling participle. It confuses the reader to think whether the speaker of the sentence or the flock of birds was flying in the sky when the speaker saw a huge flock of birds. Using common sense, we can assume that the flock of birds was flying in the sky. However, the way this sentence is written means the opposite: the speaker was flying in the sky when he saw a huge flock of birds. This is because a modifier always modifies the word that is nearest to in the sentence. Since the subject ‘I’ comes right after the participle phrase, it modifies the subject ‘I’ rather than the object ‘flock of birds’.

As mentioned earlier, using common sense we can guess that the flock of birds is the target of the participle phrase because a human cannot fly in the sky. However, the way the sentence is written gives a meaning different from the intended meaning. This is an easy example to help you understand. However, when a participle phrase is used in many other sentences, where common sense may not be much applicable, it can make a problem to understand the intended meaning.

A dangling participle is a common writing mistake which is corrected by restructuring the sentence or adding a few words to the sentence. For instance, the above sentence can be corrected as follows:

I saw a huge flock of birds flying in the sky.

 Example 2. Dangling participle (present participle).

• Answering all the questions correctly, the interviewer selected him for the job.

In the above example, ‘answering all the questions correctly’ is a dangling participle. It confuses the reader to think whether the phrase targets the interviewer or the person (him) who was interviewed. Wether the interviewer answered all the questions correctly or the person (him) answered all the questions correctly when the interviewer selected the person (him) for the job.

Using common sense, we can guess the intended meaning that the person answered all the questions correctly and was, thus, selected for the job by the interviewer. However, the way the sentence is written gives a meaning different from its intended meaning because the word ‘interviewer’ comes right after the participle phrase. This sentence can be corrected by writing it in the following two ways:

• Answering the questions correctly, he was selected for the job by the interviewer.
• The interviewer selected him for the job because he had answered the questions correctly.

 Example 3. Dangling participle (past participle)

• Injured in a car accident, we took the man to a hospital.

The phrase ‘injured in a car accident’ is a dangling participle having past participle (injured). It dangles between the subject ‘we’ and the object ‘man’. It confuses the reader to think whether the ‘we’ were injured in the car accident or the ‘man’ was injured in the car accident when we took him to a hospital. This is because the way the sentence is written gives meaning different from its intended meaning. This sentence can be corrected in the following two ways:

• Injured in a car accident, the man was taken to a hospital by us.
• We took the man to a hospital who was injured in a car accident.

The sentences having a dangling participle can be corrected in the following ways.

• Re-structuring the sentence.
• Adding a few words (missing words) to it.
• Changing its voice (Active and Passive voice)

First, we identify the target word (e.g. noun or pronoun) that is likely to be modified by the dangling participle and then, we restructure the sentence to correct it.

 Example 1.

• Talking funny, people were laughing at the joker. (wrong).
• People were laughing at the joker who was talking funny. (correct).

It can be seen in the above example that the correcting has been made simply by re-arranging the words of the sentence and adding a few words to it.

 Example 2.

• Crying out of pain, the doctor encouraged the patient. (wrong).
• The doctor encouraged the patient who was crying out of pain. (correct).

It can be seen in the above example that the correcting has been made simply by re-arranging the words of the sentence and adding a few words to it.

 Example 3.

• Already worried about her result, the news of her failure in the exam saddened her further. (wrong).
• Already worried about her result, she was saddened further by the news of her failure in the exam. (correct).
• The news of her failure in the exam saddened her further who was already worried about her results. (correct).

It can be seen in the above correction, the first correction has been made by converting the second part of sentence from active voice to passive voice. The second correction has been made by re-arranging the words of sentence and adding a few words to it.

 Example 4.

• Tired of whole day work, watching a movie relaxed me. (wrong).
• Tired of whole day work, I was relaxed by watching a movie. (correct).

Note.  Some dangling phrases do not have a participle in them. Such a phrase cannot be called a dangling participle. Such a phrase is simply called a dangling modifier. Read the following example.

• At the age of sixteen, my father gifted me a bicycle. (Wrong).
• At the age of sixteen, I was gifted a bicycle by my father. (Correct).