ENGLISH USAGE ITEM:

George Orwell shot the magnificent elephant feeling guilty.

Which of the following is the best version of the sentence?

(A) George Orwell shot the magnificent elephant feeling guilty.
(B) George Orwell shot the magnificent elephant, feeling guilty.
(C) Feeling guilty, George Orwell shot the magnificent elephant.
(D) Feeling guilty George Orwell shot, the magnificent elephant.

ENGLISH USAGE EXPLANATION:

Correct Answer: (C)
The original sentence suffers from the notorious dangling modifier: it says that the elephant was feeling guilty. And you can’t correct the mistake just by inserting a comma somewhere as (B) and (D) do—though we’ve had college English teachers tell us that (B) is acceptable. (C) is the best version because the position of the phrase “feeling guilty” shows clearly that it is supposed to modify “George Orwell.”