Misplaced modifiers

THE STAR'S MIND OUR ENGLISH of Friday May 26, 2006


Misplaced modifiers

By OH TEIK THEAM

LOOK at this little story and see if you can find a mistake in it:

The quack

A quack was trying to sell a potion which he claimed would make one live to a ripe old age. "Look at me," he declared. "I'm three hundred years old, and I'm still very healthy."

With an incredulous look, a spectator asked the quack's assistant, "Is he really that old?"

"I don't know," the assistant replied. "I've only been with him for one hundred years."



Some people may want to rewrite the last sentence as "I've been with him for only one hundred years."

Words such as "only", "nearly", "almost", "even" and "just" are called limiting modifiers. As a rule, a modifier should be placed as close as possible to the word or group of words that it is intended to modify.

Let us look at the common patterns regarding the use of "only":

Only she is a child. (the others are adults)

She is only a child. (not older)

She is a child only. (nothing more)

She is an only child. (has no siblings)

Nevertheless, the imprecise placement of "only" is hardly noticed when the meaning of the statement is sufficiently clear – e.g. I only failed once. / I failed only once. (Sometimes, the "correct" version may not sound as smooth as the alternative!)


The above article has attracted my comments which were forwarded to The Editor of The Star's Mind our English on May 28, 2006. I have, however, not received any response to my such comments which are reproduced below:-

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While surfing the internet after reading "Misplaced modifiers" in MIND OUR ENGLISH of May 26, I stumbled upon a site http://www.cfcc.edu/faculty/rhardin/modifiers.html , some contents of which could form an easy guide for the use of limiting modifiers.

According to the site, limiting modifiers such as only, even, almost, hardly, nearly and just should be placed in front of the word or words they modify.

Examples quoted therein are:-

Incorrect: Jason only wants to take one class this semester.
Correct : Jason wants to take only one class this semester.
Incorrect: The students almost spent two hours taking the test.
Correct : The students spent almost two hours taking the test.

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