dangling participle

In TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR, a term describing the use of a PARTICIPLE, or a PHRASE introduced by a participle, which has an unclear or AMBIGUOUS relationship to the rest of the SENTENCE; also called a misrelated participle. If taken literally, the sentence often appears nonsensical or laughable: Driving along the street, a runaway dog gave John a fright. To avoid such inadvertent effects, manuals of STYLE recommend that such sentences be rephrased, with the participial construction moved or replaced, as in When John was driving along the street, a runaway dog gave him a fright.