The Official SAT Question of the Day™

Part of the following sentence is italics; beneath the sentence are five ways of phrasing the underlined material. Select the option that produces the best sentence. If you think the original phrasing produces a better sentence than any of the alternatives, select choice A.

Looking up from the base of the mountain, the trail seemed more treacherous than it really was.

(A) Looking up
(B) While looking up
(C) By looking up
(D) Viewing
(E) Viewed

Correct Answer: E

Explanation:
When a modifying phrase begins a sentence, it must logically modify the sentence's subject; otherwise, it is a dangling modifier. In this example, every option except (E) is a dangling modifier.

In (A), the phrase "Looking up from the base of the mountain" does not logically modify the subject "the trail." A person might stand at the base of a mountain and look up at a trail, but it is illogical to suggest that a trail looks up from the base of a mountain.
(B), (C), and (D) are simply variations of the error found in (A). Each results in a sentence that illogically suggests that a trail was looking up from the base of a mountain.
(E) is correct. Although a trail cannot itself look up from the base of a mountain, a trail can be viewed by someone looking up from the base of a mountain, so the phrase "Viewed from the base of the mountain" logically modifies the subject "the trail."