We tell them that with hockey pucks and soup cans and deep reservoirs of courage, they are capable of defeating an evil that has resisted the more prosaic energies of law-enforcement officers, legislators, school superintendents, and mental-health professionals. This view is pervasive, and its consequences are now well understood: It robs children of their agency and impedes their development, and too often prevents them from testing themselves either physically or socially, from taking moderate risks and learning from them, from developing resilience.īut on the other hand, we demand preternatural maturity from our children. On the one hand, we view children as incredibly vulnerable-to hurt feelings, to non-rubberized playground surfaces, to disappointing report cards. I think Christakis really nails this phenomenon in a way I haven’t seen elsewhere. On its surface, the article-which focuses on active shooter drills in elementary schools, of all things-seems very far removed from things like test prep and college admissions however, as I read through the piece, I couldn’t help but notice a link. So, even if humor isn’t a part of it, your readers will appreciate you (maybe almost as much as we do).I recently came across an Atlantic article by the child psychologist Erica Christakis, in which she discusses a concept she terms “adultification”-that is, the attribution of adult traits and behaviors and ways of thinking to children. The more easily you spot these misplaced modifier errors (in your writing or someone else’s), the more efficiently you can transform confusing sentences into clear ones. Misplaced and dangling modifiers can be funny.īut when you’re writing something you want your readers to take seriously, if they laugh at all, you want them laughing with you - not at you.
#Misplaced notion definition how to#
Now that you’re better acquainted with misplaced modifers and how to fix them, you’re much better equipped for the self-editing stage of your book writing process.Īnd if you’re interested in working as a professional editor, you’ve just learned something that can help make you indispensable to your clients. Remember these misplaced modifier examples when you’re writing your book. “Speed-reading this particular book gave me a headache.” But the second one means they almost left - but didn’t. The first sentence means almost everyone did leave. Just putting the “nearly” before the verb (lost) rather than the object ($10,000) saved Tim a whole lotta money. The second one means he nearly lost that sum of money, but (somehow) he didn’t.
The first sentence means Tim actually did lose money - to the tune of nearly $10,000. “Tim nearly lost $10,000 in that gamble.” “Tim lost nearly $10,000 in that gamble.” vs. How Many Words Should Be In A Chapter Of A Book? More for David.ġ5 Common Grammar Mistakes That Kill Your Writing CredibilityĪre You Ready To Test Your Proofreading Skills? The second sentence means David is the only one who wants dessert - no one else does. We could also say, “David wants only dessert” or even “David wants dessert only” to mean the same thing, but “only wants dessert” is probably the most common construction. The first sentence means David wants dessert and nothing else. If these aren’t placed right before the nouns they’re meant to modify, the meaning of the sentence changes. We can fix this by rephrasing the sentence in one of the following ways: Plus, who could sleep up there will all the cereal boxes and potato chips? Since Marilyn wouldn’t be looking for anyone if she were asleep, we can guess that “her cat” is the one “asleep on top of the refrigerator.” “Asleep on top of the refrigerator, Marilyn couldn’t find her cat.
Otherwise, you can either get clues from the surrounding context or ask the author for clarification. Even you’re editing someone else’s work, you can probably guess the most likely meaning. Once you know how to spot a misplaced modifier, it’s a cinch to put it where it belongs - as long as you know exactly what you’re trying to say. Example 11: Misplaced Squinting Modifier.Example 10: Misplaced Squinting Modifier.Example 9: Misplaced Squinting Modifier.