The danger of misplaced modifiers

[qatarperegrine]

CNN's front page currently has a sentence that makes me cry inside:

"Though previously Democratic, McCain's supporters see Pennsylvania as a potential swing state with just six days to go."

McCain's supporters are previously Democratic???

And, Pennsylvania is a state with just six days to go? What will it be after then??

I am secretly posting this, not because I think you're interested, but so I have access to this sentence next time I try to convince a student that misplaced modifiers are a bad idea.

Comments

That sentence

[shmuelisms.livejournal.com]

That sentence is mind-boggling bad! I tend to make mistakes of this kind, with my highly qualified draw-out compound sentences (like this one ;-)), so I pay attention to fix them. But this? WOW. It took me a good while to parse it at all.

I would prefer a slightly reordered version of gustavolacerda's sentence:

"Pennsylvania, previously considered Democratic, is seen by McCain's supporters as a potential swing state, with just six days to go."

Or put the final clause up front, to get it "out of the way", of the main content of the sentence. Any comments on what would be preferable?

Re: That sentence

[qatar.livejournal.com]

I think "With just six days to go," is technically a dangling modifier no matter where it's placed in the sentence. What is it that has six days to go? The sentence never says.

I could go for something like "Just six days away from the election, McCain's supporters see previously Democratic Pennsylvania as a potential swing state." However, a news organization would never want the less relevant info (6 days) before the news (swing state).