Hugh Jackman donated a pair of jeans to a charity that sold for over $20,000.
This sentence contains a misplaced modifier. The modifier "that sold for over $20,000" is an adjective phrase that is located in an illogical place in the sentence.
The intended meaning of this sentence is easy to understand: Hugh donated a pair of jeans to a charity, and the charity sold the jeans for over $20,000. However, this is not the literal meaning of the sentence. Since the modifier "that sold for over $20,000" immediately follows the noun "charity," the adjective phrase appears to modify that noun. This means that the charity sold for $20,000. A modifier should be located as close as possible to the word it modifies in order to clearly and logically express the meaning of the sentence.
The structure of the sentence can be modified in several ways to correct this error.
A pair of jeans that Hugh Jackman donated to a charity sold for over $20,000.
Hugh Jackman donated a pair of jeans to a charity. They sold for over $20,000. [In American English, "pair of jeans" is considered to be plural, so the plural pronoun "they" clearly refers to the jeans. Other forms of English treat "pair of jeans" as a singular noun; therefore, the pronoun would need to be "it" and the confusion would remain since "it" could refer to either the pair of jeans or the charity.]
Post a comment