What's wrong with this sentence?

Looks like a straightforward misplaced modifier to me. As written, "who'll be defending..." is modifying "begins" instead of "Red Sox."

It's a dangling modifier--the subject of the first clause is "The new baseball season," while the subject of the second clause is "the Red Sox."

The new season of baseball for the Red Sox begins, who'll be defending their World Series championship.

As the new baseball season begins, the Red Sox will be defending their World Series championship title.

As baseball begins a new season, last year's World Series champion Red Sox will be defending their title.

As the new season of baseball begins, the Red Sox, last year's World Series champions, will be defending their title.

The Red Sox, currently the World Series champions, will lose their title to the usually hapless Minnesota Twins.

pconsidine said:

Looks like a straightforward misplaced modifier to me. As written, "who'll be defending..." is modifying "begins" instead of "Red Sox."

Click to expand...

No, it's modifying "season".

All one has to do is move the verb:

The new season of baseball begins for the Red Sox, who'll be defending their World Series championship.

Click to expand...

Okay, how about this one.

He'd been worried when he first saw her, looking like a Malibu Barbie doll.

This is from a Silhouette book I'm *trying* to read. It's riddled with these things, which I assume are misplaced modifiers. Isn't this just wrong? To me it says "he" looks like a Malibu Barbie. Looking modifies he, right? It's the comma that screws it up, imo. Take out the comma after her and it would probably be correct, wouldn't it?

If I was to rewrite it, I'd say: When he first saw her, she looked like a Malibu Barbie doll and that worried him.

That also takes care of the stimulus response error.

This kind of stuff drives me nuts. It's like math!

I know it's wrong . . . I just . . . I can't . . . I don't know why!

Misplaced modifier or dangling modifier: both mean the same thing. You could correct it by making it the compound sentence you suggest, or simply by saying: The Red Soxs will be defending their world championship as the new baseball season begins. OR The new baseball season begins for the defending world champions, the Red Sox.

Karen Duvall said:

Okay, how about this one.

He'd been worried when he first saw her, looking like a Malibu Barbie doll.

This is from a Silhouette book I'm *trying* to read. It's riddled with these things, which I assume are misplaced modifiers. Isn't this just wrong? To me it says "he" looks like a Malibu Barbie. Looking modifies he, right? It's the comma that screws it up, imo. Take out the comma after her and it would probably be correct, wouldn't it?

If I was to rewrite it, I'd say: When he first saw her, she looked like a Malibu Barbie doll and that worried him.

That also takes care of the stimulus response error.

Click to expand...

Remove the comma and see how it reads.

The Red Sox is not a person, but a team... so I probably won't use "who."

Since this is a grammar forum I won't attempt to rewrite the sentence... just fix it grammatically:


The Red Sox, defending their World Series championship, will begin their new baseball season today.

or

Defending their World Series championship, the Red Sox will begin their new baseball season today.



As for this one:

He'd been worried when he first saw her, looking like a Malibu Barbie doll.


It's not "technically wrong" but it's confusing. Does he look like a Malibu Barbie doll or she? We can assume it's she. Still, it's a confusing construct.

So the comma can go, or the sentence should be:

He'd been worried when he first saw her, who looked like a Malibu Barbie doll. (Which is clunky anyway since the two clauses are awkwardly related/unrelated/strung together.)

Meh. It's sports journalism, what'd ya expect, Hemingway?

the problem is the coma. i am not dumd i am her sister. i have socks in my hands thats why i write weird. its hard to write with socks on your hands. its cold here, thats why. so please don't jugde tump. my sister, she is the best writer around even if her stories are boring. i am not 12, i am 21. i am a writer to who writes mostly homosexual harry potter fanfiction. my grammar isn't too bad when i don't have socks. on my hands. because of the cold. we don't have warm here, because my sister don't sell any books. she is a good writer, but people is not understand her books. their books for smart people who need helps leeping. it helps me. even if her xharacters are not actractive or attaching!1!!!

ps. this is not a joke. by my sisters books, give me warm.