It's possible to get away with a lot of writing errors, such as too-informal language, wrong verb forms, and run-on sentences.
If you do not overdo it, readers might overlook an error like that, consider it a minor mistake, and figure out your idea despite your means of expressing it.
When you put a modifier in the wrong place, however, you run the risk of, at best, confusing your reader, at worst creating a line that could end up in someone's joke forward -- and without your affiliate link.
Worse, you could make the reader completely misunderstand what you're saying.
I'll start with the few basics, since a lot of people write in English as a secondary language.
In many languages, you can put a word just about anywhere in a sentence and know how it relates to the others, because word forms and endings tell exactly what words go with what.
That's called an inflected language.
In English, as in many other languages, we know how a word relates to the others by where it falls in the sentence.
That's a syntactic language.
In a syntactic language, "The fish ate the bear" means something entirely different from "The bear ate the fish.
" In an inflected language, you could have a series of words meaning "fish," "ate" and "bear" in just about any order, and it would be perfectly clear who's the eater and who's being eaten.
When we use adjectives and adverbs in English, we know what words they're modifying, because they're sitting right next to each other.
But sometimes writers get careless or try too hard to be clever and put the modifier next to the wrong word, causing all kinds of problems.
There are three ways modifiers can go astray and create havoc in a sentence.
They can be

• Misplaced
• Dangling
• Squinting

Types of Misplaced Modifiers The misplaced modifier is simply in the wrong place.

"The new program is being promoted by affiliates, with a gravity of 25 and a payout rate of 75%.
"

That sentence suggests that it's the affiliates with the gravity and payout rate.
What the writer meant to say was -

"The new program, with a gravity of 25 and a payout rate of 75%, is being promoted by affiliates.
"

The dangling modifier relates to something that does not appear in the sentence at all.

"Threatening bad weather, the umpire canceled the ballgame.
"

That says it's the umpire who is threatening bad weather, but notice that the sentence does not say what is actually doing the threatening.
A better way to put this sentence would be...

"With the sky threatening bad weather, the umpire canceled the ballgame.
"

A squinting modifier falls between two words or phrases that it could possibly modify, and it's not clear to the reader which is the right one.
This problem does not come up very often, but in the right (or wrong) context it could create the most mischief.

"I notified the subcontractor when he did not follow the contract he would be fired.
"

The reader is not sure if the writer means,

"When the subcontract did not follow the contract, I notified him that he would be fired,"

Or

"I notified the subcontractor that he would be fired if he did not follow the contract.
"

Obviously, in some situations, the difference can be important.
How to Avoid this Dangerous Grammar Mistake There are several simple ways to keep this error from creeping into your writing.

1. Learn to recognize Misplaced modifiers when you see them.
   When you come across a piece of writing that you do not understand, stop and ask why.
   If it's because you do not understand the words -- maybe it's some jargon or term you have not run into before -- that's something you can easily address with the aid of a dictionary or the internet.
   If you understand all the words, but the sentence does not make sense, then it's probably a grammatical error at the heart of the problem.
   If you can see it in someone else's writing, you're more likely to find it in your own.
   
2. Do not try to be too fancy in your writing.
   Simple, direct sentences are the most effective.
   As much as possible putting the modifier immediately before what it modifies is the safest arrangement in English.
   
3. Keep modifiers to a minimum.
   Try to use strong nouns and verbs in your sentences.
   They make your writing clearer and stronger and cut down the risk of errors.
   
4. Hear it out loud.
   If you can, try reading your words aloud to yourself.
   Even better, read your work to a buddy or have the buddy read the work to you.
   You'll be surprised at how much your writing will improve with this kind of feedback.
   

With a little extra attention, you can make sure you don't cause yourself this grief in your writing.