Dangling participles:
Also called "misplaced" or "hanging" participles, these typically occur at the beginning of sentences and modify either the wrong thing or nothing in particular: Startled by the noise, her book fell to the floor (but it was she, not her book, who was startled). Lying in the sun, it was hard to imagine the winter back home (who was lying in the sun?). Correct such mismatches by changing the wording: Startled by the noise, she dropped her book and Lying in the sun, he found it hard to imagine the winter back home. A number of dangling participles, however, are well established and idiomatic, for example, given, considering, and regarding. These are so well established that they are generally thought of as independent of the verbs from which they sprang and are now said to be prepositions.
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