Grammar girl here, today guest writer Bonnie Tranga is going to help us take a break from

serious grammar and instead delve into the world of comedy, some intentional and some not.

Gravcham Mark said it best, one morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas.

How he got into my pajamas, I'll never know.

I'm sure you thought that was funny, but did you ever consider why it's hilarious?

You've probably heard the term misplaced modifier before.

It refers to a phrase or clause that acts on something other than what the writer intended.

The modifiers in the wrong position relative to what it should be affecting.

In this show, we'll explore the world of misplaced prepositional phrases, a kind of misplaced

modifier.

A modifier is a phrase or clause that describes something.

And a prepositional phrase is a short phrase that begins with a preposition.

Prepositions include at, in, and through.

A prepositional phrase gets misplaced when the writer puts it next to the wrong word.

And now onto the humor.

Gravcham's joke is funny for the same reason that this real classified ad laughed at in

the books in and syntax is funny.

For sale, mahogany table by a lady with chippendale legs.

Both sentences contain a misplaced prepositional phrase.

Gravcham intentionally put the phrase in my pajamas next to the word elephant to create

a funny image of an elephant wearing PJs.

Of course, the man not the packarderm was wearing PJs.

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