Dangling Participles

        

                  Guest post by Laura VanArendonk Baugh

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Dangling participles are a bad idea. They’re grammatically wrong, of course, but that doesn’t stop people from using them. But if you want your reader to stay engaged, it’s not only wrong, it’s a bad idea.

Hold on, Laura. I’ve slept since third grade. What’s a participle and why does it dangle?
Let’s review.

A participle is a verb form, usually showing an ongoing action or condition but occasionally used as an adjective.

• Present participle: I am dieting but it’s not going well. (Two for one!)
• Past participle: The horse had jumped the fence. (regular verb)
• Past participle: The bird had flown over the barn door. (irregular verb)
• Participle as adjective: A crying baby in the theater ruined the movie’s dramatic scene.

When the present participle form is used as a noun, it’s called a gerund, because grammaticists need job security.

• Running is a great hobby if you anticipate a zombie apocalypse.

You can get some extra mileage out of a sentence by using a participle for a second verb clause.

• Tying an apron around my waist, I considered my ingredients.

Be aware that this sentence structure is frequently overused, especially by novices trying to vary sentence length and structure as they’ve heard they should, and can get annoying quickly when abused. But it’s a legitimate sentence structure and certainly has its place.

And now we come to the dangling participle.

In the previous example, both verbs shared the subject “I”. A participle clause should always share the subject with the rest of the sentence. When a participle is used without its appropriate noun, it’s dangling, and it makes for some fairly stupid sentences.

• Brining the turkey, the doorbell rang.

Does your doorbell brine turkeys often?

• Researching my client’s profile, my phone rang.

Okay, I love my smart phone as much as anyone, but it doesn’t actually do the research for me yet.

• Shining brightly, I looked at the pale moon.

Why is our narrator shining? Did she steal the moon’s light? Is that why it’s pale?
This sentence can be repaired with a simple shift:

• I looked at the pale moon shining brightly.

Not great literature, but at least no longer nonsensical.

Okay, I see what you’re saying, but the second subject is probably evident from context. Why should I worry about it?First, what’s evident to the writer who knows what he means to say is not always evident to the reader who is reading to find out.
Secondly, even if a reader can work out the intended meaning, it interrupts the flow of the narrative.

• I saw Harper find the trail head far below on the mountain. Climbing the trail, I sat down and waited for him to arrive.

If I go back and re-read, I can figure out that Harper is climbing the trail while our narrator sits. But on first read, it seems that the narrator is sitting and climbing simultaneously. I have to stop and decipher the writer’s intent.

Anything that makes your reader stop forward momentum is a bad idea.

This is why grammar matters. A grammatically-aware reader will find your lack of care irritating. A reader who doesn’t know a dangling participle from a dongle will still know subconsciously or consciously that he finds your story slower going than someone else’s – or worse, than Netflix or Hulu. (Nothing against video media, but I don’t want to just give them my customers.)

Again, this error frequently happens when writers want to vary their sentence structure and rhythm but don’t know quite how to do it.

• I wondered if it were still there. I worked up my courage to look out the window. I bit my lip. The chimera waited by the woodpile.

Knowing this is dull or maybe trying to cut word count, the writer tries a participle clause. (See what I did there?)

• I wondered if it were still there. I worked up my courage to look out the window. Biting my lip, the chimera waited by the woodpile.

Ow! Freakin’ chimera, biting me even from outside the house.

A dangling participle is fixed by simply adding the relevant subject.

• Chopping the peppers, Darla grated the cheese.
• Darla watched Franklin chopping the peppers as she grated the cheese.

Or, if you really meant that Darla did both but was not in possession of a time-turner or clones:

• Darla chopped the peppers and grated the cheese.

Sometimes, skipping the participle altogether makes a better sentence.

• Ducking the sword, the samurai lunged at the nunchaku-wielding ninja.
• The nunchaku-wielding ninja ducked the samurai’s sword.

The simple test? Your participle clause shares the subject of your sentence. If that’s not what you meant, rewrite.
No more dangling!

Bio
Laura VanArendonk Baugh writes speculative fiction in several flavors, historical fiction, mystery, and non-fiction, because she is bad at branding. However, she is good at grammar and was sent to the office repeatedly for correcting her English teachers (the principal consulted The Chicago Manual of Style and found she was right). She loves teaching about writing and publishing. You can find her at www.LauraVanArendonkBaugh.com.