Identify the sentence containing an unattached or dangling modifier error:

Answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Walking through the botanical greenhouse, the rare orchid species immediately caught our attention.

  1. Step 1: A dangling modifier occurs when the introductory participial phrase lacks a logical subject in the main clause immediately following the comma.
  2. Step 2: In 'Walking through the botanical greenhouse, the rare orchid species...', the grammatical subject is 'the rare orchid species', illogically implying that the orchid was walking.
  3. Step 3: The other sentences correctly place human agents ('we', 'the researchers') as the subject.
Answer
Walking through the botanical greenhouse, the rare orchid species immediately caught our attention.
Why not the others: 'Walking through the botanical greenhouse, we immediately noticed the rare orchid species' has the correct logical subject 'we'; 'As we walked through the botanical greenhouse, the rare orchid species caught our attention' uses a subordinate adverbial clause which cannot dangle; 'While strolling in the botanical greenhouse, the researchers examined the rare orchid species' correctly links the participle to 'the researchers'.

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