Citizen Printer

Can someone help me correct the modifier in theses sentences by telling what is misplaced and rewriting them?

1.While sweeping the floor, the stew boiled over on the stove. 2.To write correctly, proper English should be used. 3.After putting a new ribbon in the printer, my papers looked better. 4.While washing his brother’s car, a scratch was discovered on the bumper. 5.Thinking of something else, the instructor's voice surprised me.

Public Comments

1. In most of these, the implied subject of the adverbial clause (the part before the comma) is different than the subject of the main clause. You need to either make the subjects match or put an explicit subject in the adverbial clause. Possible rewrites: 1. While sweeping the floor, the stew boiled over on the stove. While I was sweeping the floor, the stew boiled over on the stove. (Add an explicit, different subject) 2. To write correctly, proper English should be used. In correct writing, proper English should be used. (Okay, here I didn't add an explicit subject, but changed the first part to a prepositional phrase.) or To write correctly, one must use proper English. (Now both clauses have the same subject. I like the rewrite above better, though.) 3. After putting a new ribbon in the printer, my papers looked better. I'm going to leave this one for you to re-do for yourself. It works just like #1. 4. While washing his brother’s car, a scratch was discovered on the bumper. While he was washing his brother’s car, he discovered a scratch on the bumper. (Both parts of the sentence need to be in the same voice, in this case the active voice.) 5. Thinking of something else, the instructor's voice surprised me. Thinking of something else, I was surprised by the instructor's voice. or Because I was thinking of something else, the instructor's voice surprised me.