Question

An awestruck crowd watched as the bright, colorful swirls of fireworks lit up the night sky with childlike glee. What is the misplaced modifier in this sentence?

Answer 1

Answer

I would say "childlike glee" is the misplaced modifier,

Definition of misplaced modifier: A misplaced modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that is improperly separated from the word it modifies / describes.

Step 1: We know all firework give off brightness and color and it usually happens during the night, we can ignore those because those are proper.

Step 2: Now we have "awestruck crowd' and "childlike glee."

Definition of awestruck: to be full of complete wonder, amazement, or dread for something.

awestruck isn't a misplaced modifier because its not like nobody is going to ignore the fireworks-- everyone is going to look at them in amazement.

Step 3: Now we just have "childlike glee", it is a misplaced modifier because we are not sure what people (children/adults) are in the crowd. It wouldn't make sense if the adults gave a childlike glee so its a misplaced modifier.

Answer 2

A modifier is a word(s) in a sentence that help describe a certain person/place/thing(noun).

Now, this may be incorrect, but I'm going to give you two options from an Author's prospective.

I would take away colorful. Because everyone know's fireworks tend to be full of color and excitement, it just seems a little bit too much extra to me. 

my second option would be to take away sky. Fireworks are known to be shown in the sky, and night seems like a detail you don't want to remove for the way it sounds. 

I hope this helps you!