QT 1 – Video Transcript and Bonus Info
Welcome to Cate’s Take, the first of my 2-minute Tuesdays, where I offer tools for all things writing—and what better place than in a wordshop, er, workshop! We’ll talk grammar, punctuation, word use, and style—and all under 2 minutes.
To kick off our QuickTakes, we’re going to take a look—or rather a squint—at squinting modifiers—a word or a phrase trapped midsentence. See if you can find the squinting modifier in this sentence.
The way the Cheshire Cat disappeared completely surprised Alice.
Did the cat disappear completely? Or was Alice completely surprised? The word “completely” is placed in such a way that we don’t know whether it modifies what comes before it or what comes after it—it’s squinting.
What about in this sentence—can you spot the squinting modifier?
Why the cat faded away altogether puzzled her.
Did the cat fade away altogether? Or was Alice altogether puzzled? In Alice in Wonderland, Alice tells the Cheshire Cat that she wishes he’d stop appearing and disappearing so suddenly. “All right,” the cat says and vanishes quite slowly, beginning with the tip of his tail and ending with his grin. But Alice was sure by noon he would reappear. Wait—is that “By noon, Alice was sure he would reappear”? Or is it, “Alice was sure that he would reappear by noon”?
It just gets curiouser and curiouser.
The rest of the story:
Here are two ways we might rewrite the sentence to avoid ambiguity:
The way the Cheshire Cat completely disappeared surprised Alice.
OR
The way the Cheshire cat disappeared surprised Alice completely.
Now give these a try. Hint: the squinting modifier in the last sentence is a phrase.
- A child who steals cookies often cannot be caught.
- Playing the lottery frequently can become addicting.
- The supervisor said, on May 10 and June 3, the committee reviewed his case recommended no disciplinary action.