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Step 1
Check to see if the grammatical object in question is set apart from the sentence (both grammatically and semantically) or not, since absolute phrases are always set apart by commas or dashes, while misplaced modifiers are usually well integrated into the sentence.
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Step 2
Identify the absolute phrase, versus the misplaced modifier, by asking if it clearly modifies the main topic of the sentence or not. For example, in the sentence, "Its old glass glowing, the lantern sat on the porch," begins with an absolute phrase. In the construction, "There was an old lantern sitting on the porch with its old glass glowing," the phrase is now a misplaced modifier since it's unclear whether the glowing old glass refers to the lantern or the porch.
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Step 3
Ask yourself whether a description makes sense if it's read literally, as in cases such as "A velvet man's suit." In cases where a literal reading ("a velvet man") doesn't make sense the modifier, in this case "velvet," is misplaced (since it should be "A man's velvet suit,") and is not an absolute phrase.
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Step 4
Identify misplaced modifiers quickly by looking for usual suspects such as adverbs like "hardly," "barely" or "only." Misplaced modifiers that use words like these don't really make sense in their construction. For example, "The man barely threw the football 20 yards" is an example of a common misplaced modifier since "barely" cannot technically modify the verb "to throw."
