Perhaps the most famous misplaced modifier is a joke (see disclaimer below!) told by Groucho Marx:

“This morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas, I’ll never know.”

Disclaimer:

Quite aside from the misplaced modifier, I have to say that – to modern ears – this joke actually seems in bad taste considering the horrors of elephant poaching, trophy hunting, etc. As an animal lover, I’ve therefore devised a more sensitive version:

The wildlife safari I recently took in Kenya was amazing. Early one morning I filmed an elephant in my pajamas.

Less offensive but still offering amusement due to the placing of the modifier. To fix this sentence we could say:

The wildlife safari I recently took in Kenya was amazing. I filmed an elephant early one morning, while I was still in my pajamas.

We now have clarity!

Similarly, dangling modifiers appear to be modifying the wrong noun, therefore creating a sentence that makes no sense.

Feeling tired after an exhausting week, the long drive home was challenging.

Was the ‘long drive’ feeling tired? Fix dangling modifiers like this:

Feeling tired after an exhausting week, Sarah found the long drive home challenging.

Clarity!