What is a dangling participle?

Question

An adjective that is modifying/describing the wrong noun.

Example: Walking through the kitchen, the smoke alarm was going off. (the smoke alarm was walking through the kitchen?)

Better: Walking through the kitchen, I heard the smoke alarm going off (I was walking through the kitchen.)

Answer 1

When you turn a verb into a gerund (such as using the verb to run in the form running) you are turning the verb into an adjective. In the sentence, "Running home, the front gate became visible," I use running as an adjective-- this is the participle. The reason it's considered "dangling" is because it is completely unattached to the thing it describes. When looking at an example like this, we have to think: Who is doing the running? It isn't the front gate. It could be the reader, the speaker, or a third person, but we don't have any subject pronouns in the sentence. We need to modify it so that the person doing the running is clear to the reader. Any of the following sentences would be considered grammatical, depending on the speaker's intention:

"Running home, he saw the front gate come into view."

"Running home, you saw the front gate come into view."

"Running home, I saw the front gate come into view."

Answer 2

Or maybe,

"As I walked through the kitchen, the smoke alarm went off."

or

I seemed to set off the kitchen smoke alarm.

My presence set off the kitchen smoke alarm

My walking set off the kitchen smoke alarm

One goal, among others, is brevity, less words.

ABC's of writing: Accuracy, Brevity, Clarity

also action words, not passive

Brevity and Action keep the reader awake more.