Subscribe

7th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 5 of 15

Modifiers & Parallelism

Clear, balanced sentences

What your child practices

Revising sentences so describing phrases sit next to what they describe (no misplaced or dangling modifiers) and list items match in form (parallel structure).

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 7.10(C) · placing modifiers and keeping sentences parallel

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Put a describing phrase right next to the word it describes.
  2. A dangling modifier has nothing in the sentence to describe: “Baking cookies, the kitchen smelled good.” (The kitchen wasn’t baking.)
  3. Parallel structure: items in a list use the same form, like drawing, painting and building.

Example: Make the list parallel: “Amir loves drawing, to paint and building models.” Two items end in -ing; “to paint” doesn’t match. Change it to “painting.” Answer: Amir loves drawing, painting and building models.

Modifiers & Parallelism in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 5 of 15 in 7th grade English Language Arts, after Clauses & Sentences and before Word Mix-Ups.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which revision fixes the dangling modifier?

    Running down the hill, my hat flew off.

    • Running down the hill, a hat flew off.
    • Running down the hill, I lost my hat.
    • Running down the hill, my hat flew off in the wind.
    • My hat flew off, running down the hill.

  2. Question 2

    Which sentence uses parallel structure?

    • Noah likes reading, to write stories and playing chess.
    • Noah likes to read, writing stories and playing chess.
    • Noah likes reading, writing stories and playing chess.
    • Noah likes reading, writing stories and to play chess.

  3. Question 3

    What does parallel structure mean?

    • Writing two sentences that mean the same thing
    • Using the same grammatical form for items in a list or pair
    • Starting each paragraph with the same word
    • Putting every sentence in the past tense

  4. Question 4

    Which sentence has a dangling modifier?

    • Baking cookies, Lena filled the kitchen with a wonderful smell.
    • While Lena baked cookies, the kitchen smelled wonderful.
    • Baking cookies, the kitchen smelled wonderful.
    • The kitchen smelled wonderful while Lena baked cookies.

  5. Question 5

    Which revision fixes the misplaced modifier?

    We saw a moose driving to the cabin.

    • We saw a moose that was driving to the cabin.
    • Driving to the cabin, a moose was seen.
    • While driving to the cabin, we saw a moose.
    • A moose driving to the cabin was seen by us.

  6. Question 6

    Which revision makes the list parallel?

    The new library is quiet, spacious and has lots of books.

    • The new library is quiet, has space and well stocked.
    • The new library is being quiet, spacious and well stocked.
    • The new library is quiet, spacious and well stocked.

More 7th grade