43 Many times short questions are ended in prepositions. Here are some acceptable and
unacceptable examples. Note that the unacceptable sentences could be improved simply
by dropping the preposition at the end.
Good Form Does he have anything to worry about? What did you use to make it with? What is the report comprised of ? Poor Form Is the extra-credit project over with? Where is the stadium at? Where do you want to go to?
D A N G L I N G P A R T I C I P L E S A N D M I S P L A C E D M O D I F I E R S Dangling participles and misplaced modifiers, though sometimes difficult to recognize, are
easily fixed by rearranging word order. A dangling participle is a phrase or clause with a
verb ending in -ing that does not refer to the subject of the sentence it modifies. Since it is
so critical that your reader understand your point easily and exactly, dangling modifiers (and
indeed any ambiguous language) must be avoided.
Incorrect:_While_working_on_his_English_assignment,_Tony’s_computer_crashed._(Was_the_computer_working_on_the_assignment)_Correct'>Incorrect: While working on his English assignment, Tony’s computer crashed.
(Was the computer working on the assignment?)
Correct: While Tony was working on his English assignment, his computer
crashed.
Note that correcting a dangling participle involves adding and/or rearranging the words
in a sentence to make the meaning clear.
Incorrect : While practicing outside with the soccer team, the noisy construc-
tion job distracted Jim.
Correct: While Jim was practicing outside with the soccer team, he was dis-
tracted by the noisy construction job.
OR
The noisy construction job distracted Jim while he was practicing outside with
the soccer team.
