Friday, April 14, 2017

Modifier issue "traveling" or "who traveled"


I have heard that modifier should be placed near the word or the phrase that modifies. In below sentence, the modifier "traveling" is placed next to the word "tourists." I feel the below sentence is correct. But feedback of this states that it is wrong, because it implies that the buildings may have been the ones traveling to more well-known memorial museums. Can anyone explain the reason?



Riddled with bullets, shattered by bombs, and hidden in alleys, the historic buildings in Lodz, Poland, were long ignored by tourists, traveling instead to more well-known memorial museums.



And the right answer is




Riddled with bullets, shattered by bombs, and hidden in alleys, the historic buildings in Lodz, Poland, were long ignored by tourists, who traveled instead to more well-known memorial museums.




Answer



Yes, "tourists, traveling" suggests the buildings were traveling. The issue is with the comma between those two words. WITH the comma, traveling refers to the subject of the sentence, the buildings. If you remove the comma, then the sentence is correct, because traveling now refers to tourists. Yes, you can also say "tourists, who traveled", but I don't think that's any better or worse than leaving out the comma.


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