The winner

Congratulations to Sheila in Ohio who has won the obscene quilt! I have to admit, I'm quite pleased about this, since she is going to bind it and give it to charity, which is exactly what I would have done with it if I had the fortitude to finish the job.

The answer I was looking for in response to my grammar questions was "dangling participle." The word "having" at the beginning of the sentence is a participle, an -ing verb used adjectivally. It is "dangling" because the subject it modifies (the person who put the quilt in the lead box) is not the actual subject of the sentence (the subject becomes "it" - meaning the quilt - in the second part).

Only a handful of people got that answer, and some used "hanging participle" which is also acceptable, but not nearly as funny. I also accepted any answer which managed to describe the problem without actually naming it, and most of you were pretty close. Some were tripped up by the use of the passive voice, assuming that was the error, and still others thought it was a trick question and that there was nothing wrong with the sentence (see me after class).

This was really fun and I hope to do it again sometime, but for now I'm glad my Blackberry will be taking a rest.