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Misplaced modifier

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Question 1 of 3

2024 Test B English, question 1

Question

What is the best way to combine these sentences to clarify the relationship between ideas?

(1) The International Space Station has been inhabited by crew members since 2000.

(2) Tourists will soon be allowed to pay for visits to the space station.

(3) Because the cost is $52–$58 million round trip, few people will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to have a vacation in outer space.

  • AThe International Space Station has been inhabited by crew members since 2000, but tourists will soon be allowed to pay for visits to the space station, which cost $52–$58 million round trip, so few people will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to have a vacation in outer space.
  • BThe International Space Station has been inhabited by crew members since 2000 and will soon allow tourists to pay for visits, but because the cost is $52–$58 million round trip, few people will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to have a vacation in outer space.
  • CThe International Space Station has been inhabited by crew members since 2000, but tourists will soon be allowed to pay for visits to the space station, though the cost is $52–$58 million round trip, so few people will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to have a vacation in outer space.
  • DThe International Space Station has been inhabited by crew members since 2000, and tourists will soon be allowed to pay for visits to the space station because the cost is $52–$58 million round trip, therefore few people will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to have a vacation in outer space.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks for the best way to combine the sentences.

A. Incorrect. Although the option combines the sentences in a way that accurately reflects the meaning of each individual sentence, the combined sentence is a string of clauses that do not effectively cohere. Because it is poorly structured, the combined sentence does not clarify the relationship of ideas as effectively as the correct response does. The sentence incorrectly uses “but tourists,” and “which cost” modifies “the space station” but does not modify the trip. Compared with the correct response, the combined sentence in this option is also imprecise and unnecessarily wordy.

B. CORRECT. The option uses a complex sentence to present ideas clearly and precisely, and it shows the relationship between the ideas in the original sentences. In the first part of the sentence, the conjunction “and” correctly joins the first and second sentences by indicating a relationship, rather than a contrast, between the two. In the second part of the sentence, the conjunction “but” adds additional emphasis to the fact that while tourists will be allowed to visit the space station, the cost of the trip will likely prohibit most people from visiting.

C. Incorrect. Although the option combines the sentences in a way that accurately reflects the meaning of each individual sentence, the combined sentence is a string of clauses that do not effectively cohere. Because it is so poorly structured, the combined sentence does not clarify the relationship of ideas as effectively as the correct response does. Compared with the correct response, the combined sentence in this option is also imprecise and unnecessarily wordy.

D. Incorrect. The combination of the sentences contains an illogical relationship between ideas with the statement that tourists will be allowed to pay for visits to the space station because the cost is $52–$58 million round trip. The connection between the idea that “tourists will soon be allowed to pay for visits” and the subsequent “therefore few people will be able to take advantage of the opportunity” is also illogical.

Question analysis

This sentence-combining question gives three sentences about the International Space Station, its crew and the high price of a tourist trip, and asks for the best way to join them into one. Every version keeps the same facts, so students must judge which connecting words show how the ideas relate while the sentences stay long and nearly identical.

NYS standards
  • 7L1 grammar and usage conventions
  • 7L3a precise and concise language
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students practice joining two short sentences with a fitting conjunction. Here three sentences become one long sentence in four nearly identical versions, so students must weigh every connecting word and clause rather than spot one error.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 15, 261 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

None of the wrong versions drops a fact, and two of them are loose rather than plainly ungrammatical, so the ear is little help. Students lose the point by accepting the smoothest chain of clauses without asking what each connector claims: whether the crew and the tourists really contrast, what the price belongs to, and what the price explains. The question rewards deciding the three links before reading the versions, then checking them one connector at a time.

  1. How sentences fit together major Working it out

    Sentence 2 simply adds to sentence 1, while sentence 3’s price works against the tourist plan and explains why few will go, so every “but,” “though,” “because” or “so” in a version must fit one of those links. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  2. Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question

    Each version is one sentence of 48 to 53 words with four clauses, and at that length a “which cost” hanging on the wrong noun or a comma before “therefore” is easy to read past. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

  3. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    All four versions keep the same facts in the same order and share most of their words, so none can be ruled out by content; each connecting word has to be tested in turn. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Before reading the choices, decide how each sentence relates to the next: added fact, contrast, or cause and result. Then check every connecting word in each version against those links.

Traps

  • Misplaced modifier: A describing word or phrase that attaches to the wrong word, or to nothing in the sentence.
  • Wordy, vague or informal: A revision is grammatical but wordy, imprecise or too casual for the passage.
  • Wrong transition: A connecting word or phrase that signals the wrong relationship, such as contrast where the idea continues.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    You need to join three sentences into one. The best version shows clearly how the ideas connect. Joining words do that job. A conjunction is a joining word, like and, but, so or because. Each one tells the reader something. And adds a fact. But shows a contrast (two ideas that pull against each other). Because and so show a cause and its result.

  2. Decide how the three sentences connect

    Sentence 1 says crews have lived on the station since 2000. Sentence 2 adds a new fact: tourists will soon be able to visit. That is not a contrast, so it needs and. Sentence 3 works against sentence 2. The trip costs “$52–$58 million round trip.” That price is also the reason few people will go. So you need a contrast and a reason. Example: The pool is open to all, but because it costs $90, few kids swim there.

  3. Test each choice

    • B uses “and will soon allow tourists” to add the new fact. Then “but because the cost is” shows the contrast and the reason. Every link is right.
    • A joins sentence 2 with “but tourists,” as if crews and tourists were opposites. Also, “which cost” comes right after “the space station.” So it sounds like the station costs that much, not the trip.
    • C stacks “but,” “though” and “so” in one long chain. The price turns into a side note instead of the clear reason.
    • D says tourists may visit “because the cost is” so high. That makes no sense. And “therefore” after a comma joins two sentences the wrong way.

  4. Pick the answer

    Watch out: A is the most tempting. It keeps the price as the reason, with “so.” But its “but” and its “which” send the reader the wrong way. Only one choice links every idea correctly. So the answer is B.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer. Like B, it says the price keeps most people away. But A sets crews against tourists with “but tourists.” Its “which cost” also seems to give the price of the station. B uses and for the added fact and but because for the price, so each link is clear.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 1 as printed on page 159 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 159, question 1. Open page 159 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 2 of 3

2023 Test A English, question 3

Question

How should this sentence be revised?

To promote their club, a bake sale will be sponsored by members of the debate team on Wednesday.

  • ATo promote their club, on Wednesday a bake sale will be sponsored by members of the debate team.
  • BOn Wednesday, to promote their club, a bake sale will be sponsored by members of the debate team.
  • CTo promote their club, members of the debate team will sponsor a bake sale on Wednesday.
  • DMembers of the debate team, on Wednesday to promote their club, will sponsor a bake sale.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks for the correct revision of the sentence in the box.

A. Incorrect. The revisions do not fix the error that “to promote their club” modifies “a bake sale.”

B. Incorrect. The revisions do not fix the error that “to promote their club” modifies “a bake sale.”

C. CORRECT. The revision is correct because it includes the phrase “to promote their club” clearly modifying “members of the debate team.”

D. Incorrect. While the revision clarifies that “to promote their club” relates to the “members of the debate team,” the rest of the sentence is poorly written because the insertion of “on Wednesday to promote their club” in the middle of the sentence interrupts the main clause, “Members of the debate team will sponsor a bake sale.”

Question analysis

This sentence-structure question gives one sentence about a debate team’s bake sale, planned for Wednesday to promote their club, and asks how it should be revised. The four rewrites shuffle the same three phrases into different orders, so students must check which word each phrase modifies and whether the whole sentence still reads naturally.

NYS standards
  • 7L1 grammar and usage conventions
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Placing a phrase so that it describes the right word is part of the grade 7 language standards, and this one-sentence item is a classic case. Choosing the rewrite that is both logical and smooth is typical grade 7 editing.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 7, 92 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The sentence makes sense on a first reading, which is exactly why its error slips past students who edit by ear. Asking who is promoting the club exposes it and removes both rewrites that keep the bake sale as the subject, however neatly they are punctuated. What is left is a judgment of style, and the smoother rewrite keeps the subject and verb together instead of interrupting them with two phrases.

  1. A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate Working it out

    “To promote their club” has to describe whatever comes right after its comma, and that is “a bake sale”; the meaning is so plain that few students notice the sale doing the promoting. (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  2. Complex sentences minor Understanding the question

    The original is passive, “a bake sale will be sponsored by members of the debate team,” which places the people who act after the verb, far from the phrase that should describe them. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

  3. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    Each rewrite rearranges the opening phrase, the time phrase and the main clause, so each has to be read through to see what follows “To promote their club” and whether anything splits a subject from its verb. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  4. A very close wrong answer minor Choosing the answer

    Two rewrites make the team members the subject of “will sponsor” with identical words; they part only on where the two phrases go, at the edges of the sentence or wedged between subject and verb. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: Ask who is really doing the promoting, then read each rewrite aloud in full, checking which words follow the opening phrase and whether the sentence reads smoothly from start to finish.

Traps

  • Misplaced modifier: A describing word or phrase that attaches to the wrong word, or to nothing in the sentence.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    You need the best way to rewrite the sentence. This is about a modifier. A modifier is a group of words that describes something else in the sentence. Here the opening words, “To promote their club,” are the modifier. Your job is to check what they describe.

  2. Learn the rule for opening phrases

    A sentence may start with a describing phrase and a comma. Then the phrase describes whatever comes right after the comma. So the one doing the action should come next.

    Wrong: To get good seats, the line was joined early by Ana. A line can’t want good seats.
    Right: To get good seats, Ana joined the line early.

  3. Find the problem in the sentence

    To promote a club means to get people interested in it. In the sentence, the words right after the comma are “a bake sale.” So the sentence seems to say the bake sale is promoting the club. But a bake sale doesn’t have a club. The club belongs to the “members of the debate team.” They should come right after the comma, and they should do the action: they “will sponsor a bake sale.”

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. It moves “on Wednesday” forward. But the bake sale is still what the opening phrase describes.
    • B is wrong. It puts “On Wednesday,” at the front. The commas look neat, but “a bake sale” still follows “to promote their club.”
    • C is right. “Members of the debate team” comes right after the comma. They are the ones promoting their club.
    • D is wrong. The members come first. But “on Wednesday to promote their club” is stuck between the subject (who does the action) and the verb (the action word).

    Watch out: D is tempting, since the members do the promoting. But its long middle part breaks up the main idea.

  5. Choose the answer

    C fixes the modifier and reads smoothly: To promote their club, members of the debate team will sponsor a bake sale on Wednesday. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong answer. Like C, it makes the members the ones who promote the club. But D pushes a long phrase between “Members of the debate team” and “will sponsor.” C keeps the subject and the verb side by side, so it is easier to read.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 3 as printed on page 37 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2024 Admissions, page 37, question 3. Open page 37 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 3 of 3

2018 Test B English, question 3

Question

Read this sentence.

To promote their club, a bake sale will be sponsored by members of the debate team on Wednesday.

How should the sentence be revised?

  • ATo promote their club, on Wednesday a bake sale will be sponsored by members of the debate team.
  • BOn Wednesday to promote their club, a bake sale will be sponsored by members of the debate team.
  • CTo promote their club, members of the debate team will sponsor a bake sale on Wednesday.
  • DMembers of the debate team, on Wednesday to promote their club, will sponsor a bake sale.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks for the correct revision of the sentence in the box.

The sentence is incorrect because, as written, the phrase “to promote their club” refers to the closest noun to the phrase, which is “a bake sale,” and that does not match logically.

Option C is correct because the revision has the phrase “to promote their club” clearly modifying “members of the debate team” and adds the idea that the bake sale is on Wednesday to the end of the sentence.

Option A and Option B are incorrect because the revisions do not fix the error that “to promote their club” modifies “a bake sale.”

Option D is incorrect; while the revision clarifies that “to promote their club” relates to the “members of the debate team,” the rest of the sentence is poorly written because the insertion of “on Wednesday to promote their club” in the middle of the sentence interrupts the main clause, “Members of the debate team will sponsor a bake sale.”

Question analysis

This sentence-structure question shows a sentence about a debate team’s bake sale and asks how it should be revised. Students choose the rewrite that places each phrase where it logically belongs. The rewrites move the same phrases into different orders, so students must judge both the logic and how naturally each version reads.

NYS standards
  • 7L1 grammar and usage conventions
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Placing phrases so they modify the right words is named in the grade 7 language standards, and this one-sentence item is a typical classroom example. Students must also judge whether each rewrite reads smoothly, not just whether it is logical.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 6, 95 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The original sentence is easy to understand, which is exactly why its dangling modifier slips past students who judge by sound. Rewrites that only move “on Wednesday” keep the passive voice and the error, so asking who is doing the promoting rules them out at once. Among the rewrites that put the team members first, the remaining decision is about smoothness: whether a phrase should sit between the subject and its verb.

  1. A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate Working it out

    “To promote their club” has no logical doer in the original, since a bake sale cannot promote anything, but the meaning is so clear that the dangling modifier is hard to hear. (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  2. Complex sentences minor Understanding the question

    The passive “will be sponsored by members of the debate team” pushes the real actors to the end, which is why the opening phrase lands on “a bake sale.” (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

  3. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    All four rewrites shuffle the same three phrases, so each must be read whole to see which noun follows the opening phrase and whether the main clause is interrupted. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  4. A very close wrong answer minor Choosing the answer

    The interrupted rewrite uses the same words as the right one and also makes the team members the subject; only where “on Wednesday to promote their club” sits, between subject and verb, separates them. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: Ask who is actually promoting the club, then read each rewrite to see which words the to-phrase attaches to and how smoothly the whole sentence reads.

Traps

  • Misplaced modifier: A describing word or phrase that attaches to the wrong word, or to nothing in the sentence.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This question is about a modifier. A modifier is a group of words that describes something. You need the version where the describing words go with the right noun (a person, place or thing).

  2. Learn the rule for opening phrases

    Sometimes a sentence starts with a describing phrase and a comma. That phrase describes whoever comes right after the comma. So the one doing the action must come right after the comma.

    Wrong: To win the race, every day was spent training. A day can’t win a race.
    Fixed: To win the race, Maya trained every day.

  3. Find the problem in the sentence

    The sentence starts with “To promote their club.” To promote something means to get people interested in it. Right after the comma comes “a bake sale.” So the sentence says the bake sale is promoting the club. That makes no sense. The people promoting the club are the “members of the debate team.” They should come right after the comma.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. After the comma comes “on Wednesday a bake sale.” The bake sale is still doing the promoting.
    • B is wrong. It moves “On Wednesday” to the front, but “a bake sale” still follows the comma.
    • C is right. “Members of the debate team” comes right after the comma. They are the ones who “will sponsor a bake sale.”
    • D is wrong. It names the members first. But it stuffs “on Wednesday to promote their club” between the subject and its verb. That breaks up the sentence.

    Watch out: D also makes the members the ones promoting the club, so it is tempting. But C says the same thing in a smooth, clear order.

  5. Choose the answer

    In C, the members promote their club, and “on Wednesday” comes at the end, where it reads smoothly. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong answer. Like C, it puts the members of the debate team first. But D splits the subject from its verb with a long phrase: “Members of the debate team, on Wednesday to promote their club, will sponsor.” C keeps the main idea together, so it reads clearly.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 3 as printed on page 117 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 117, question 3. Open page 117 of the handbook (PDF)