Disambiguate the following sentences (participles):
1.Running into the rum, a rug caught her foot and she fell.
2.Reading the letter a second time, the meaning becomes clearer.
3.Riding in his first race, his horse fell at the last jump.
4. Passing under a ladder, a pot of paint fell on my head.
5.Wondering where to go, an advertisement caught my eye.
Answers
Answer:
A participle is considered to belong to the noun or pronoun that immediately precedes it (which usually, but not necessarily, is the subject of the main verb).
For example:
The boy, climbing the tree to get birds’ eggs, had a bad fall.
If there is no noun/pronoun in this position the participle is considered to belong to the subject of the following main verb:
Climbing the tree to get birds’ eggs, the boy had a bad fall.
Sometimes this principle is disregarded and confusion results:
Climbing down the tree, one of the eggs broke.
This word order makes it appear that the egg was climbing, which is nonsense.
Participles linked in this way to the wrong noun/pronoun is said to be ‘misrelated’.
The sentence should be rewritten:
Climbing down the tree he broke one of the eggs or As he was climbing down the tree one of the eggs broke.