Hello World!! Now that you are well set on your journey of grammar, here’s a small lesson for you on one of the most frequent error zones in grammar- Modifiers.

Oh, by the way! Do you like coffee? It might not be a bad idea to keep a steaming mugful by your side as you read the lesson. Sip along!

Modifiers- Dangling and Misplaced:
A modifier describes, clarifies, or gives more detail about a word or a word group. A dangling modifier is a phrase that modifies the wrong word or phrase because of the absence of the word or phrase it is supposed to modify. In other words, the modifier is left “dangling”. A misplaced modifier is placed incorrectly in the sentence such that it modifies the wrong word and makes the sentence sound illogical.

This chapter deals with reasoning through premises. It is called syllogisms.

Broadly, you need to understand two types of arguments. We have already come to see what arguments look like. Now it is time to comprehend some ‘categories’ of arguments.

Analyse this, (P1= Premise 1, P2= Premise 2, C= Conclusion)

P1 – All men are buffoons.

P2 – Ravi (poor chap) is a man.

C – Ravi is a buffoon.

This kind of argumentation is known as deductive reasoning. Here, the conclusion arrived at, is a logical ‘necessity’, which you will find me referring to henceforth as an LN. The structure of the deductive argumentation is simple. We picked a set, gave it a characteristic (P1), picked an element from the set (P2), and with certainty, arrived at the conclusion that the element shall show the same characteristic.

P.S. I hope you understand that my sympathies with Ravi have nothing to do with the argument.

Now, the second type,