Hearing the professor's footsteps, the class coming down the hall quickly pretends to be reading one of the papers.
Which of the following is misplaced in the sentence above?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Misplaced modifiers are words or phrases that are not located properly in relation to the words they modify. To fix a misplaced modifier, we need to place the modifier next to the word or phrase that it modifies.
In this example, "coming down the hall" is meant to modify "the professor's footsteps," but its placement makes it appear the class is walking down the hallway.
In order to correct this, we must place the modifier as close as possible to "the professor's footsteps".
Hearing the professor's footsteps coming down the hall, the class quickly pretends to be reading one of the papers.

Hearing the Professor's Footsteps, the Class Coming Down the Hall