10 Misplaced Modifier Examples

10 Misplaced Modifier Examples 10 Misplaced Modifier Examples 10 Misplaced Modifier Examples By Mark Nichol Misplaced modifier is the syntactical error of misplacing nonessential but supplemental information within a sentence. It is so common among professional writers as well as those who are not paid to write (or for whom writing is not a primary job responsibility) that it is easy to find multiple examples of such a mistake during one’s casual reading of news articles, as demonstrated by the collection of sentences from such sources in this post. Examples are followed by discussion of the error and one or more revisions. 10 Examples 1. Smith said his company won’t tolerate hate groups during his congressional testimony earlier this week. The implication is that the company will limit its intolerance to the duration of the session during which he gives testimony. Here, the sentence is rephrased to clarify that the intolerance is ongoing: â€Å"Smith said during his congressional testimony earlier this week that his company won’t tolerate hate groups.† 2. That’s how many would be needed to reach a two-thirds majority of 288 votes, assuming all Democrats vote â€Å"yes,† the margin required for a veto override. The syntax implies that the assumed Democratic-bloc vote is the margin, but the 288 votes (against the remaining votes) is the margin, so the phrase â€Å"assuming all Democrats vote ‘yes’† should be isolated as a parenthetical: â€Å"That’s how many would be needed to reach a two-thirds majority of 288 votes- assuming all Democrats vote ‘yes’- the margin required for a veto override.† However, because dashes imply an emphasis, this method seems obtrusive, so placing it in actual parentheses, which suggest subordination of the additional information, is better: â€Å"That’s how many would be needed to reach a two-thirds majority of 288 votes (assuming all Democrats vote ‘yes’), the margin required for a veto override.† This approach, however, is still distracting. Best yet, the parenthetical phrase can be moved to an earlier position in the sentence: â€Å"That’s how many would be needed, assuming all Democrats vote ‘yes,’ to reach a two-thirds majority of 288 votes, the margin required for a veto override.† 3. Lessons learned from preparation of the previous year’s statements should be addressed the following year (e.g., any issues encountered in applying new policies). The recommended action â€Å"should be addressed the following year† is the point of the sentence, so it should appear at the end, following the parenthesis: â€Å"Lessons learned from preparation of the previous year’s statements (e.g., any issues encountered in applying new policies) should be addressed the following year.† 4. That is where a technology committee can be useful- a smaller, focused board group working with management on long-term digital and innovation strategy. The portion of the sentence following the dash details what is meant by â€Å"technology committee,† so it should immediately follow that term: â€Å"That is where a technology committee- a smaller, focused board group working with management on long-term digital and innovation strategy- can be useful.† 5. An attack at the synagogue left eleven people dead, many of them elderly. â€Å"Many of them elderly,† as a phrase modifying people, should immediately follow that word, which also places the sentence’s key word, dead, at the end of the sentence, where it has the most impact: â€Å"An attack at the synagogue left eleven people, many of them elderly, dead.† 6. Information on each of these activities is available online, which will help will cultivate real-world experience building, hunting, and analyzing. The activities themselves, rather than the fact that information on each of them is available online, will be helpful in the cultivation of real-world experience, so the dependent clause, which describes that benefit, should immediately follow activities, not online: â€Å"Information on each of these activities, which will help will cultivate real-world experience building, hunting, and analyzing, is available online.† 7. Such systems can only screen those messages that contain a payment instruction. Misplacement of only in a sentence is rampant, especially in conversation, but in formal writing, the word should follow the verb it modifies. In this sentence, the syntax implies that the systems can screen but can do nothing else; the meaning is that they can screen a certain category of messages but no others, as reflected in this revision: â€Å"Such systems can screen only those messages that contain a payment instruction.† 8. Jones said he assumes Smith erased the messages on his phone, not a member of Smith’s staff, and he doesn’t know whether the texts can be recovered. The placement of the parenthetical here implies that the messages were erased and a person was not erased, but the point of the sentence is that Smith, rather than a member of his staff, did the erasing, as clarified here: â€Å"Jones said he assumes Smith, not a member of Smith’s staff, erased the messages on his phone, and he doesn’t know whether the texts can be recovered.† 9. Congress controls federal spending, not the president. This sentence implies that â€Å"federal spending† and â€Å"the president† are counterpoints (suggesting that Congress controls federal spending, but it doesn’t control the president); the following revision clarifies that it is Congress and â€Å"the president† that are parallel: â€Å"Congress, not the president, controls federal spending† (which means that Congress controls federal spending and the president does not). 10. We had known since 1866 that solid objects can reflect radio waves, thanks to German physicist Heinrich Hertz. The implication here is that we have Hertz to thank for the fact that solid objects can reflect radio waves. However, he is responsible not for the phenomenon, but for our awareness of it. The parenthetical can be reinserted into the sentence in any one of several places, but whatever position it takes, the sentence should end with the key information that solid objects can reflect radio waves: â€Å"We had known since 1866, thanks to German physicist Heinrich Hertz, that solid objects can reflect radio waves.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Spelling Test 1Ten Yiddish Expressions You Should KnowDealing With A Character's Internal Thoughts

Personal statement to LSE MScFinance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Personal statement to LSE MScFinance - Essay Example The two wonderful years that I have studied with this fine institutionwo-year experience at th have further intensified my interest in this subject. It has been a joy to tackle difficult problems in my Corporate Finance course. I am happy to see how financial theories are closely linked to everyday functions. I appreciate mechanism of successful agile investors who are quick to spot market opportunities and foster business ideas. Therefore, I am very excited to explore more about corporate finance, financial valuations and forecasting. Pursuing a Masters will not only equip me with relevant professional knowledge but also broaden my future career path. LSE is the ideal choice for me because of its internationally renowned reputation, strong expertise in finance related areas as well as the sophisticated career services that are on offer. I believe that studying accounting and finance for my Bachelors degree has further prepared me for a Masters in a finance-related field. Studying financial accounting modules has taught me how to prepare financial statements, extract crucial information from company reports and evaluate and compare businesses. On the other hand,aking managerial accounting and auditing courses have helped me to make strategic business decisions, cultivate greater commercial and business awareness and, at the same time, given me a deeper understanding of contemporary regulatory environments. Finance has always been my favorite subject. It is marvellous to see how sophisticated products, such as futures and swaps, have been specially tailored for clients to transfer risks between counterparties. I have also enjoyed studying the behaviors of stock prices and empirical tests of asset pricing models. Economics is another subject that has always been appealing to me. Business cycle models and international trade theories have helped me to better understand government policies and the macro

South Asian Sufism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

South Asian Sufism - Research Paper Example This diversity has to a certain extent been created by the subcontinent?s numerous linguistic and cultural customs and its unique networks beyond the region. In terms of Islamic roots, Sufism has, in a way, played a key role in the spread of Islamic devotional and spiritual life in South Asia. At some stage in the eighth and ninth centuries A.D., a novel prominence began to grow within Islam. This prominence was a constructive response against the established uncongenial and ceremonial nature of Islam. The quest for deeper meaning started with a pietistic simplicity, which in turn led to the advance of the well-acknowledged mystical side of Islam - known as Tasawwuf or Sufism. Sufism is in essence a spiritual form of Islam focusing on the connection between the individual and divinity. The Sufis surfaced in South Asia around 800 years ago, and were initially stanch devotees, whose meager woolen attire signified their humility, hence the word â€Å"Sufi† that denotes Arabic wor d for wool. The Sufis sought the mysticism, divine realism or eventual truth that stands over all the fantasies and deceptions about the materialistic society. In order to attain ecstatic unification with God, Sufis integrated practices of sound and actions -- chanting and harmony, swaying and dance. Sufi followers joined in closed brotherhoods or tariqahs, each following a captivating leader (shaykh). They offered an Islam that fused South Asian customs and worship styles, including Christian saints and Hindu gods. Sufism highlights the importance of â€Å"Real†, as distinctive from a faint acceptance of what is considered to be real in everyday existence, by authentic comprehension of the self and the 'veils' which separate it from any understanding of the truth. (ELWELL-SUTTON). This also implies a quest for real existence. It also emphasized empathy from one soul to another, in spite of all other differences. The Sufi trend drew attraction throughout South Asia (as well a s Eurasia and Eastern Europe) can be recapitulated in Rafiq Zakaria?s book as: â€Å"Though unconcerned with affairs of state, the sufis had a profound influence on the Muslim polity. They humanized its rigours and reduced the area of conflict between religion and politics. They gave Islam a broader base. Non-Muslims flocked to sufi hospices in large numbers and in due course hundreds of thousands came into the fold of Islam. . . .† (Zakaria) Sufism: Spirituality or Libertarianism? Despite the fact that Sufism has been majorly identified as the spiritual and mystic extension of Islam, parts of literary research argues about the existence of Sufism as a political entity. For example, the way Sufis' tombs surfaced and grew as places of pilgrimage indicate that the ‘missionary’ agenda of the Islamic mystics was devised primarily for conversion and the establishment of Perso-Arabian cultural control in South Asia (R.Upadhyay). Despite of the cultural relevance of Suf ism, over the period of time, differences have also arisen from divergence of interests among Muslims over what should be the right standard for cultural and political life. As Sufism endorsed various forms of cultural articulation, it did not extend unilaterally as a response to orthodoxy and legalistic rigorism but from time to time it harmonized and engaged in these developments. In the same way, hostility between shari‘a (law) and tariqa (Sufi path) in Islam is an open topic of debate, although Sufi researchers emphasize that

Primary Critical Anaylysis of Edward Albee's The Zoo Essay

Primary Critical Anaylysis of Edward Albee's The Zoo - Essay Example In the play "The Zoo Story" by Edward Albee in 1958 first performed in Berlin at the Schiller Theater Werkstatt, 1959. The "zoo" imagery runs throughout the play and the actual crisis emerges from the sentence that Jerry enters saying "I've been to the zoo". Jerry reflects a "great weariness" and questions the verisimilitude of "social prosperity" and "happiness" that the optimism that seem to surround the American Dream. The isolation and the confinement of his free life becomes the curse of the modern society. He is free to remain condemned, and hardly can share a relationship with even an animal. The one-act drama revolves around the concept of the 'zoo' that belies the 'Disneyland' of American promise of superabundance and civility. My present concern in this paper is to analyze the questions that Jerry raises and how he escapes through his death. On a fine Sunday afternoon Peter sits on a park bench reading a book, just when Jerry enters looking a bit tattered and ragged. He starts a conversation with Peter which takes a violent turn after Jerry goes into a detailed analysis of his life at his apartment, and his relationship with a dog the story that he names "THE STORY OF JERRY AND THE DOG!". The dialogues about his personal life and that of the present turn seamy which ultimately takes a dangerous note when he starts telling Peter what exactly he saw in the zoo. Peters request to leave becomes ridiculous when Jerry starts to tickle him without reason, almost bordering on absurdity. While continuing with his zoo story Jerry challenges Peter repeatedly to leave the bench and hits him on his hand. Angry at the illogicality of Jerry's response he starts a fight and ultimately falls into Jerry trap when he picks up his knife and Jerry lunges on him killing himself. Jerry dies with a fitting parody of a prayer. The speech of Jerry borders on madness and implicitly becomes a subversive force to unsettle the middle-class morals that seem to be the binding force of the American bourgeoisie. Jerry questions traditional concept of roles as he confuses "wife" with "parakeets", "cats" and often compares Peter's household with a zoo that makes a mockery of marriage and human relationships. Most importantly it becomes a satire against the concept of the "family" as portrayed by the popular American image, like the "The Brady Bunch", a sitcom aired between 1969 and 1974. Clearly Jerry and peter represent two different worlds.1The typical archetype of "good old mom" and "good old pop" are just ideals that the society forces on us and thus Jerry says that the empty picture frames that should have framed another picture perfect moment is just a sham and his family history is just another terrible "middle-European joke". Again he scandalizes middle-class morality by professing that he was "once" a homose xual and graphically gives a detailed encounter of his landlady and the "pretty little ladies" who are just an embodiment of carnal "desires". This is a mockery of the prudery as he says "People looked up. It always happens when I try to simplify things; people look up" Jerry is not stupid, infact he is quite learned since he tragically says that he is "howling because [he] is alive". Characters like the hellish dog, the "colored queen",

Do managers take decisions for the good of the organisation or do they Essay

Do managers take decisions for the good of the organisation or do they behave the way they do for other reasons - Essay Example In the process of evolution, it is highly likely that the business developed from a one man enterprise or family business to a partnership, then to a public limited or private limited company. Ultimately it branched out from a local to regional and regional to international undertaking. It is highly probable, even inevitable, that the evolution and change in outside form also bring about changes in the internal handling of business decisions and operational practices. This becomes necessary as the tasks of managing the different aspects of the business become too complex and heavy for one man or a number of partners to manage alone. Ultimately as the business expands, it has to reinvent itself as a model of modern business enterprise. This will invariably involve the assignment or scheduling of tasks to professionally hired managers, with expertise in production techniques, Human Resources, marketing and sales, finance and accounting etc. Each departmental head becomes a prized resou rce, responsible for meeting his departments and workers goals and assignments. Authority and responsibility become interlinked, but seldom has it been seen that the upper management is taken to task for targets not achieved or a failed project. Rather, more often than not it is the middle and lower management and supervisors/ workers that are made to bear the brunt of the axe and the shame associated with it. This state of affairs often makes one stop and think- do managers take decisions for the good of the organization or do they behave the way they do for other reasons? This paper will argue that the interests of the organization are not always uppermost in the minds of the managers, rather, as they gain and wield power- managers tend to collude with each other for their own collective benefit, while in many cases insisting that failure was because of the ineptitude of people on the lower rungs of the ladder. I would rather state that managers keep their own interests uppermost in their mind at every turn. They are interested in their own survival, going as close to the top as they can, and toppling others who they consider as competition. The lower management or their subordinates are just pawns in the game (Rosen, 1988). The Evolution of the Modern Business Enterprise If we look at the evolution of a modern business, we see that it is quite likely to have its beginnings as a sole proprietorship or family business, in which every family member has a share of responsibilities. Or it could have started as a partnership, where two or more partners pooled together their skills, resources and business acumen to offer products and services to the general populace or those that needed their wares. The disadvantage here was that of unlimited liability, or cases where even their personal property could be attached to repay debts if the business failed. In time this led to the evolution of the corporate form of business ownership. As the Industrial Revolution swept through Europe and the Americas, investment was needed from both public and private sources to raise capital for infrastructure and the laying of railroads, transport and communication, factories and warehouses. The beginning of assembly line production at the Ford Motor Company meant that things could now be mass produced after breaking down the process into a series of steps. Then F.W.

Incident Response Policy Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Incident Response Policy - Coursework Example The InfoSec’s policy is created to provide security within the computerized devices in a company. Among these companies services is the provision of the Bluetooth operating system covers all Bluetooth enabled devices within the company. The policy prevents imitation through setting up any Bluetooth device on any company equipment that does not fit their specific model without the permission of the company’s InfoSec Manager. The system is secured by passwords to any connectivity. Operators are expected to enter a certain security password that is kept a secret to the company staff members. The system secures the company’s internet use and ensures that not anybody can be connected to the company internet without the permission from the associated staff (Hassell, 2005). Internet supply is supplied within a limited area and is mostly concentrated within the perimeter of the company. It is installed to computers, laptops, and other wifi enabled mobile phones devises. When pairing the Bluetooth internet connections to the Bluetooth enabled device, the user is expected to insert the required pin or password to ensure connections. In case the device denies connection after feeding it with the correct pin/password, operators are expected to report to the InfoSec through the company help desk. For the accountability and performance determination, the InfoSec performs audits to ensure that members comply with the policy. The Bluetooth users must only access the company internet after an approval of their Bluetooth device hardware and software connections. Any member of staff found to violate the policy is subject to a disciplinary action and may lead to termination of employment (Administrators guide to Windows server 2003,

Apple company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Apple company - Essay Example The following are financial ratios for APPLE INCLUSIVE for the year ending 2012, 2013, and 2014. Horizontal analysis compares how a company runs its operation across different segments in different years, and emphasizes on cash allocation and generation (Bull, 2008). While vertical analysis compares the amount allocated to an item against the total that was available in a given year. The current assets for APPLE INCLUSIVE rose by 27.1%; in 2013 and dropped to 18.8% in 2014. It was a result of decrease of short-term investments by 38.8%. Total liabilities increased by 44.2% in 2013 and rose by 107.9% in 2014. It was as a result of the abrupt increased current liabilities by 64.6%. The total stockholder’s equity rose by 5% in 2013 and decreased by 6% in 2014. The revenue for the year ending 2014 increased by 17% but the cost of production too increased by 27% making the net income to decrease by 6%. The value of current assets rose by 35% in 2013 and dropped to 32% in 2014. The value of long term investments decreased from 56% in 2012 to 52% in 2014. Current liabilities moved increased by 7%; this is because of increased account payable by 49%. Gross profit for APPLE INCLUSIVE decreased from 43.8% in 2012 to 38.5% in 2014. The reason to this can be blamed on the increased cost of goods from 56.1% in 2012 to 61.4% in 2014. The net income was impacted by the above increased in cost of production, resulting in a decrease by 5.1%. Profitability ratios are a reflection of how a company is efficient in generating income. These ratios are â€Å"seductive† to investors; an investor would like to know how profitable is the corporation before they decide to invest. Everyone expects to value for their money. From the above ratios, it might look contradicting how the two ratios give a different interpretation of the financial performance of APPLE INCLUSIVE. Profit margin shows the net