The Confessions of a Reading Snob, by Karla Stover

For book details and purchase information visit Karla Stover BWL Author page here

https://bookswelove.net/stover-karla/

Billionaire shocks graduating class with surprise gift

Robert F. Smith announced that he'd be giving 396 college seniors the gift of a lifetime during his commencement speech at Morehouse College. Source: CNN.com. Apparently, only seniors who were there to hear the speech got the gift; tough luck for those who weren't there.

Yes, I confess, I love stumbling on another writer's misplaced modifiers, hereafter referred to as MPM. Here are a few examples: the first one is famous.

Neil Armstrong made history as the first man to step on the moon in 1969. Others may have set foot on the moon in prior years but he was the first in 1969.

 Apparently this one caused waves all over the internet: “Rachael Ray finds inspiration in cooking her family and her dog.” Source: the cover of “Tails” magazine. A comma after “cooking” might have fixed it but I’m not sure. Commas are a weakness of mine.

This one comes from a book called Sin and Syntax and apparently came from an unnamed New York Times best-selling author. “We found the address he gave me without difficulty.” Finding the address wasn't hard but I think the person meant it wasn’t hard to find the house/business/park whatever at the address.

 Also quoted in Sin and Syntax,  this time from a student essay: “Abraham Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg address while traveling from Washington to Gettysburg on the back of an envelope.”

This one came a week or so ago from Facebook friend: “. . . reading a story on my Kindle, by Joyce Carol Oates.” Perhaps the comma makes the sentence acceptable but I think the sentence should be, “reading a story by Joyce Carol Oates on my Kindle,” not that the Kindle was by Joyce Carol Oates.  Either way, I wish I had a Kindle. I could download books my libraries don’t carry.

Comedian Groucho Marx gave us what is probably the most well-known MPM when he said, “One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in there, I don’t know.”  

This one came up on google when I was looking for a new hot-weather haircut: "layered bob for fine hair over 50." My stylist (and her fine hair) are about thirty. I guess this particular cut isn't recommended for her. 

Since it's apparently not kosher to identify the author, I will just say, I enjoyed the book in spite of the following: "The best room had . . . and a badly executed oil painting above the mantelpiece of hills and heather." Whoever had checked the book out before me underlined the line and wrote in a snarky remark. 

And finally,

I was reading news headlines coincidently during the Britney Spears trial and came across this: "Meghan McCain Hopes Britney Spears Never Speaks To Her Family Again: ‘None Of Them Did Enough.’" Why was McCain 's family expected to do anything?

WHAT IS A MISPLACED MODIFIER:

"A misplaced modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that is improperly separated from the word it modifies / describes. Because of the separation, sentences with this error often sound awkward, ridiculous, or confusing." ragan.com

HOW TO LOCATE A MISPLACED MODIFIER:

"When a sentence begins with a modifying phrase that’s followed by a comma, the noun or pronoun right after the comma should be what the phrase is referring to." ininet.org

HOW TO CORRECT A MISPLACED MODIFIER:

"To correct the misplaced modifier problem, one should place single word adjectives before the word they modify and adjective phrases or clauses right after the word they modify. In the following examples, adjective phrases were placed right after the word they modify to avoid ambiguity." niu.edu > writing tutorial

Okay, I couldn't resist:

"Following Prince Philip's death, Prince William released a never-before-seen photo of his grandfather with his eldest child." People.com/royals. Huh? Prince William is / was the oldest grandchild but the photograph is of Prince George.