modifiers

misplaced modifiers and squinting modifiers

First, a misplaced modifier is an adverb located in a place other than near the word it modifies.

Look at this example:
I nearly won a million dollars in the lottery.

It's hard to tell if the person won close to one million dollars or did not win any money.

Second, a squinting modifier is one that is placed in a sentence in such a manner that it could modify either of the two nouns in a sentence. When a modifying adverb or phrase is placed in a sentence so that it can be interpreted as modifying either the words before or after it, then it’s called a “squinting modifier.”
 
Look at this example:
Running long distances quickly builds my endurance.
 
It’s hard to tell what this sentence means. Is the person running long distances quickly? Or quickly building his endurance? The squinting modifier here is the word “quickly.” Its position in the sentence makes the meaning murky.
 
Fixing a squinting modifier:
 
Bad: Having a baby often changes your life.
Better: Often, having a baby changes your life.
Bad: Beating eggs rapidly creates a whipped foam.
Better: Rapidly beating eggs creates a whipped foam.
 
Fix the examples for nearly and quickly.

I won nearly a million dollars in the lottery. Correct. Altan clarified that he won a large amount of money, almost a million dollars.
Running long distances builds my endurance quickly. Correct. Altan clarified that when he runs long distances (he is a great soccer player), he is building up his endurance at the same time.