Definition:
Words, phrases, or clauses that do not clearly relate to the word they are intended to modify. See also squinting modifier.
Examples:
- "One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know."
(Groucho Marx) - "Burk is headquartered in a small room on the tenth floor of an aging Washington office building; she is not paid by the council, and her only full-time paid employee is a pleasant young woman with a nose ring named Rebecca, who sits at the front desk."
(reprinted in The New Yorker) - "They just said it's going to rain on the radio."
("Tiger" comic strip) - "Hugh Jackman donated a pair of jeans to a charity that sold for over $20,000."
- "You are welcome to visit the cemetery where famous Russian composers, artists, and writers are buried daily, except on Thursdays."
- "Mr. Clinton acknowledged the role played by the men who subdued the gunman when he spoke at a dinner on Saturday night."
(The New York Times) - "Historians have been kept guessing over claims [that] Dr James Barry, Inspector General of Military Hospitals, was in fact a woman for more than 140 years."
(The Daily Telegraph, March 5, 2008) - "Plastic bags are a favorite of grocers because of their price, about 2 cents per bag compared to 5 cents for paper. Used widely since the 1970s, environmentalists now estimate between 500 billion to a trillion bags are produced annually worldwide."
(Associated Press, "Environmental Concerns Force Grocers, Bag Makers to Rethink the Plastic Bag," Savannah Morning News, January 30, 2008)
Pronunciation: MIS-plast MOD-i-FI-er
