Rewrite a paragraph riddled with dangling modifiers and parallelism errors to create clear, grammatically correct legal prose.
Below is a paragraph from a real brief. The writer wasn't sure how to navigate modifiers and parallelism, and it shows. The result is confusing, unprofessional, and potentially misleading.
Your Task: Rewrite the paragraph to fix all modifier and parallelism problems.
What's wrong with this paragraph:
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Dangling/Misplaced Modifiers: The first sentence starts describing the plaintiff, then suddenly shifts to the defendant. "Who was driving late at night" appears to modify "plaintiff" — but is that right?
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Parallelism Failures: Lists need parallel structure. "was cautious, driving more responsibly, and the stop sign would have been respected" mixes an adjective, a participle, and a passive clause. They don't match.
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Subject Confusion: The paragraph shifts subjects mid-sentence, making it unclear who did what.
How to fix modifiers:
- Place modifiers next to what they modify
- Make sure the subject of the sentence matches the modifier
- Ask: "Who or what is actually doing this action?"
How to fix parallelism:
- Lists should use the same grammatical form
- "was cautious, drove responsibly, and respected the stop sign" ✓
- "was cautious, driving responsibly, and the sign was respected" ✗
Example fix:
- Broken: "Running late, the car sped through the intersection."
- Fixed: "Running late, the driver sped through the intersection."
Rewrite the paragraph so it's clear, grammatical, and professional.
Complete the exercise and submit for Write.law feedback