英语句子可以从两个方面对修饰语错置进行分析

英语句子的修饰语可以是单词、短语或从句。同一个修饰语置于句子不同的位置，句子的含义可能就会引起变化。所以，修饰语位置不当，就无法清楚表达作者的原意，甚至引发句子的歧义现象。下面分别从两个方面对此类错误进行分析。

(一)修饰语应紧靠它所修饰的词语,如果放错了位置,就会造成语法上的错误或意义上的误解。例如:

(1)I believe I can do it well and I will better know the world outside the campus.

此句中better位置不当，应置于句末。

(2)The young girl was walking the dog in a short skirt.

很显然，修饰语“in a short skirt”修饰的是“the young girl”而不是“the dog”.

此句应改为:The young girl in a short skirt was walking the dog.

注意:当修饰语位于两个被修饰词之间，并且意义上似乎与两者均有关系时，应该在意义上对句子加以确定，将该修饰语移到最靠近它所修饰的词的位置，以免造成歧义。

例如:

The girl who had been dancing gracefully entered the classroom.

此句中，gracefully修饰动词dancing或动词entered都是符合逻辑的，所以很容易造成歧义。可以根据句子的含义将其分别改为:(www.xing528.com)

→The girl who had been gracefully dancing entered the classroom.（修饰dancing）

→The girl who had been dancing entered the classroom gracefully.（修饰entered）

（二)一些具有明显限定意义的形容词或副词(如almost，even，hardly，just，merely，nearly，scarcely，simply）在作修饰语时,放在句中不同的位置会有不同的意义。例如:

Prof.Smith claims that good grammar skills improve students’writing.

→Only Prof.Smith claims that good grammar skills improve students’writing.（No one else makes this claim.）

→Prof.Smith only claims that good grammar skills improve students’writing.（Prof.Smith does not mean what he says.）

→Prof.Smith claims only that good grammar skills improve students’writing.（Prof.Smith claims nothing else.）

→Prof.Smith claims that only good grammar skills improve students’writing.（Nothing except good grammar skills improves students’writing.）

→Prof.Smith claims that good grammar skills only improve students’writing.（Good grammar skills can do nothing but improve students’writing.）

→Prof.Smith claims that good grammar skills improve only students’writing.（No other aspects of students’education，such as reading，or speaking，are improved by good grammar skills.）