Dan's Dangling Diction

“Sophie gave the misplaced intercom an odd look.” Well, if the intercom at the entrance of a gated estate is placed on the right-hand side, it’s worth an odd look. Robert Langdon, however, is not surprised at all. He “had already been through that with Teabing [who] prefers things the way they are at home” (Da Vinci Code 220). Dan Brown also prefers things a certain way although it’s not always the right way.
Having passed the ominous gate, Sophie muses that “It was a relief to be off the road, and she could think of few safer places to get their feet under them than this private, gated estate”¹(223). Never mind that Sophie and Langdon are NOT in search of their final resting place.
Already their drive to this presumably safe haven had been a remarkable one. “Even at a modest sixty kilometers an hour, the dangling front bumper of the armored truck grated against the deserted suburban road”²(213). Well the bumper may dangle as much as it likes, but it is not driving at sixty kilometers an hour. It is Langdon who cruises along at such a moderate pace but has suddenly second thoughts about this venture. “Accompanying the gravity of being a hunted man, Langdon was starting to feel the ponderous weight of responsibility”³(214). Notwithstanding his geniality, it is hard to imagine Langdon accompanying the gravity of being a hunted man. Even so, we should not forget that Langdon is driven by intuition rather than rationality, and “Considering the information potentially enclosed, the instinct was probably a good one”⁴(214). His instinct considering information is quite some double-think - or no-think, for that matter.
Meanwhile, Langdon’s archenemy, Bishop Aringarosa, is thinking, too. Or is he? “Now, seated in the Fiat, [he] realized his fists were clenched just thinking about that first meeting”⁵(151). A man of God may have divine powers, but that his fists are able you think about a meeting is rather astonishing. Yet, his accomplice Silas seems rather other-worldly as well when “He lunged, lashing out with the candle stand like a club”⁶(136).
A few chapters earlier, Sophie, Langdon’s sparring partner, visited her grandfather’s apparently deserted house. “Turning now and scanning the living room, Sophie’s eyes fell on the only object in the entire house that seemed out of place – her grandfather’s favorite antique, a sprawling Aubusson tapestry”⁷(142). Sophie’s eyes indeed may be scanning the room, but how can they be turning? Qual'occhio al mondo può star di paro all'occhio tuo?
As it behooves a thriller, all our musings are interrupted by a gunshot. “At the bottom of the driveway, Collet heard the gunshot”⁸(277). Whether Collet heard the shot while standing at the bottom of the driveway or the gunshot was fired at the bottom of the driveway remains a riddle to be solved by the reader.
But no fear; nothing can kill Langdon. Not even a Louvre guard had dared to kill him because “killing Langdon would be a generous fate compared to the misery about to be communicated by Bezu Fache and the French prison system”⁹(130). Killing him early on, the guard, however, would indeed have performed a generous deed and saved the author some embarrassment. But why should Dan Brown care that despite his unquestionable success his writing style has become the object of ridicule? After all, “Only those with a keen eye would notice [Aringarosa’s] 14-karat gold bishop's ring with purple amethyst, large diamonds, and hand-tooled mitre-crozier appliqué” (28). One, however, does not need a keen eye to detect that Brown’s syntax is precariously fuzzy.


A modifier dangles when it does not clearly connect to the subject of the following clause, the "modifiee." For example, a participle phrase (Dropped in the bushes,...) at the beginning of a sentence must provide information about the subject of the following clause (...the child found the missing keys), otherwise it is dangling. Since the subject in the example sentence is "the child," the participle phrase beginning the sentence would suggest the child's tragic downfall while in fact the sentence tries to say that the child found the missing keys in the bushes.
Modifiers such as adverbs and adjectives need to be placed as close as possible to the modified word or phrase. That "he likes extremely spicy curries" leaves us in the dark. Does he like them extremely, or does he like them extremely spicy? More here .

1) It was a relief to be off the road, and she could think of few safer places to get their feet under them than this private, gated estate = misplaced modifier: few safer places to get under their feet than this private, gated estate
2) Even at a modest sixty kilometers an hour, the dangling front bumper of the armored truck grated against the deserted suburban road = dangling modifier: The dangling front bumper, even though the armored truck made only a modest sixty kilometers an hour, grated against the deserted suburban road.
3) Accompanying the gravity of being a hunted man, Langdon was starting to feel the ponderous weight of responsibility = dangling modifier: Langdon, already feeling the gravity of being a hunted man, was starting to sense the ponderous weight of responsibility.
4) Considering the information potentially enclosed, the instinct was probably a good one = dangling modifier: Considering the information potentially enclosed, he realized that his instinct was probably a good one.
5) [Aringarosa,] now seated in the Fiat, realized his fists were clenched just thinking about that first meeting = dangling modifier: Aringarosa, now seated in the Fiat and thinking about that first meeting, realized his fists were clenched.
6) He lunged, lashing out with the candle stand like a club = faulty comparison: He lunged, thrashing the candle stand like a club.
7) Turning now and scanning the living room, Sophie’s eyes fell on the only object in the entire house that seemed out of place – her grandfather’s favorite antique, a sprawling Aubusson tapestry = dangling modifier: Turning now and scanning the living room, Sophie noticed the only object in the entire house that seemed out of place – her grandfather’s favorite antique, a sprawling Aubusson tapestry.
8) At the bottom of the driveway, Collet heard the gunshot = tangled syntax: Standing at the bottom of the driveway, Collet heard the gunshot.
9) Killing Langdon would be a generous fate compared to the misery about to be communicated by Bezu Fache and the French prison system = dangling modifier: Being killed would be too generous a fate for Langdon compared to the misery awaiting him in a French prison.