Laura,
Simplified rules are fine for introducing students to the basics, but
you need to be careful of treating them as theoretical justification for
writing (or not writing) in a particular way.
I'm not aware of any usage guides that would call #2 a misplaced
modifier. I don't buy the assertion that it sounds as if the tears are
trying to be brave, and I don't believe native English speakers would
normally read the sentence that way (without special prompting).
Certainly, this exact construction is used by excellent writers all the
time. It's so frequent that it seems implausible to think that it is
either nonstandard or that it causes confusion.
Open any random work of fiction and I venture to guess you're likely to
find an example within a few pages. To test this out, I just pulled the
nearest novel off my bookshelf (Charles Frazier's _Cold Mountain_) and
opened to the first page. Sure enough, in the second paragraph, I find
the following sentence: "So he rose and dressed and sat in a ladderback
chair, putting the gloomy room of beds and their broken occupants behind
him."
Clearly, the "putting..." participial phrase refers to the subject "he"
and not to the chair.
You are perhaps thinking of the effect of a misplaced _restrictive_
modifier. For example, if you deleted the comma, the sentence would
indeed sound bizarre.
The comma, though, clearly marks it as a nonrestrictive modifier, and
nonrestrictive modifiers like these don't work the same way that
restrictive modifiers do. Whatever the position (front, medial, or
final), nonrestrictive modifiers with implied subjects are usually taken
to refer to the subject of the main clause.
Karl
Laura Oliver wrote:
> Hello--
>
> I am just a lowly 10th grade English teacher (an English MINOR at that), but I teach
> my students that the participial phrase modifies the element closest to it in the
> sentence. I would classify #2 as a misplaced modifier because it conveys the sense
> that the tears were trying to be brave. I would advise my students that #1 is the
> sentence most easily understood because the modifier does not interrupt the flow
> of the sentence. That's a pragmatic analysis from one who lives her life "in the
> trenches."
>
> I have never had the benefit of a linguistics or advanced grammar class, so some
> of your discussions strike me as akin to "how many angels can dance on the head
> of a pin." However, I am entertained, intrigued and at times edified by your
> obvious commitment to classifying and parsing the minutest components of our
> unwieldy, living language. Thank you!
>
> Laura Oliver
> Pleasantville High School
>
>
> ---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
> From: John Crow <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: Assembly for the Teaching of English
> Grammar<[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:25:53 -0400
>
>> The following sentence has the same participle phrase in three positions:
>>
>> 1. Trying to appear brave, the little boy fought back the tears.
>> 2. The little boy fought back the tears, trying to appear brave.
>> 3. The little boy, trying to appear brave, fought back the tears.
>>
>> "The little boy" is obviously given information; "tears" and "brave"
>> represent new information. I know that the decision about where to place
>> the participle phrase in a piece of writing would be made according to
>> context. However, some overarching principle should apply, it would seem.
>> So my question is this: does the placement of the participle phrase bring
>> either "tears" or "brave" into sharper focus?
>>
>> Here's my very confused take:
>>
>> - Fronting an element is supposed to emphasize that element, so #1
>> emphasizes "brave"?
>> - The final element in a sentence is emphasized, so in #2, "brave" is
>> prominent?
>> - Following this same logic, #1 emphasizes "tears" as well as "brave"?
>> If so, which one is more prominent?
>> - Putting the participle in the middle of the sentence de-emphasizes it,
>> so #3 clearly emphasizes "brave" and only "brave".
>>
>> Can anybody help me out of the explanatory morass? I would be most
>> appreciative!
>> John
>>
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>>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
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