I’ve read a lot of bloopers in novels and other forms of, shall I say, literature, over the years. Misplaced modifiers are hilarious. Here’s one from a real estate ad: The grounds are well kept and inviting to visitors with curb appeal. As written, the sentence indicates that the visitors have curb appeal, not the grounds.

I still wonder if this writer was serious when he or she wrote the following: The freezer units should be defrosted regularly. Not doing so could cause them to become damaged sooner than necessary? Those two sentences made me think of The Wastemakers, a book about planned obsolescence, by Vance Packard that I was required to read (and be bored by) as a college freshman.

My all-time favorite so far is the following sentence that stood out in a novel I read recently: The horses rolled their eyes in disgust. I rolled my eyes in disbelief. Technically, the sentence was written from the collective point of view (POV) of a team of Clydesdales. Only the horses know if they are disgusted.

I don’t think the author intended to write the sentence from the animals’ POV. At least, I would hope not.

Now if that author’s name had been George Orwell . . .