误置修饰语所谓误置修饰语（Misplaced Modifier），就是指放错了位置的修饰语。在英语中，一般说来，修饰语应紧靠它所修饰的词语，如果放错了位置，就会造成意义上的误解。如：◆At the age of six my father began to teach me English.析：将 at the age of six 置于句首，给人造成 my father 只有六岁的错觉。可考虑改为：My father began to teach me English when I was six.请再看以下例句：◆他差不多工作了一整天。误：He almost worked all day.正：He worked almost all day.析：以上误句由于 almost 放在 worked 之前，其意为“差不多工作了 (但实际上未工作)”，不合原意。以下一句也属同样错误：◆我们当中几乎每一个人都读过这本书。正：Almost every one of us read the book.误：Every one of us almost read the book.析：以上误句由于 almost 放在 read 之前，其意为“差不多读了 (但实际上没有读)”，不合原意。又如以下一例：◆A car drove down the street decked with ribbon. 句中的过去分词短语decked with ribbon意思是“用缎带装饰起来的”，本来是修饰 car 的，而在句中用作修饰street，显然是误置了。可改为：A car decked with ribbon drove down the street.注意，误置修饰语与偏斜修饰语或歧义修饰语（squinting modifier）不同，后者是指因在句中位置不当而导致语意歧义的修饰语。如：The girl who had been dancing gracefully entered the room. 在这一句中，修饰语gracefully是修饰dancing 还是entered？这两种情况都有可能，为明确起见，可根据意义分别改为：The girl who had been gracefully dancing entered the room. 句中的gracefully 修饰dancing。The girl who had been dancing entered the room gracefully. 句中的gracefully 只修饰entered。
