Review of Modifiers: The Classification Paragraph

Nine times out of 10, when a sentence sounds funny and doesn't make sense, the problem is a misplaced or dangling modifier. Modifiers, when used correctly, enhance nouns and make them come alive for the reader. To make your writing strong and clear, you should be able to identify and eliminate modifier errors, including prepositional phrase modifiers, past participle modifiers, limiting modifiers, and dangling modifiers.

After learning the correct use of modifiers, you can then apply that knowledge when writing a classification paragraph. Classification paragraphs explain a concept in clear, distinct categories. For example, to determine how to teach swimming at the community pool, you might categorize student needs by skill level. If you work at a snack company, you might write a blog about nutritional snack choices and categorize them by salty or sweet tastes. To write an effective classification paragraph, it's important to create a classification chart that lists the categories of your subject and the points you would like to make.

This resource provides instruction for users to:

• Write a grammatically correct classification paragraph
• List the guidelines for writing a classification paragraph
• Recognize the various types of modifiers in writing samples
• Recognize dangling and misplaced modifiers in writing samples