Q:

Is a participial phrase at the end of a sentence a dangling modifier?

In this sentence:

John walked outside, carrying a jug of water.

Is "carrying a jug of water" dangling?
If it isn't, what about the sentence:

John walked to the car, carrying a jug of water.

In this sentence, is "carrying a jug of water" ambiguous, possibly referring to either "John" or "the car", or is it unambiguously referring to "John"?

A:

Don't worry about the strict meaning of terminology here. Consider a sentence 'incorrect' if it's ambiguous. Neither of these is.
Even with this pair, the comma (or lack of it) disambiguates:

John walked towards the young girl, carrying a jug of water.
John walked towards the young girl carrying a jug of water.

You have to think a little harder for a truly ambiguous example:

He spotted the man using a telescope.

This is syntactically fine, but needs recasting to tell us whether 'He' or 'the man' was using the telescope.
With Strunk & White's

I saw the trailer peeking through the window.

there is a ludicrous reading rather than a true sensible ambiguity, but it is still probably best left to the comedians.

