SC 6th ed -- page 78 Jame's grades dropped

[yangfan0307]

SC 6th page 78

Unaccustomed to the rigors of college life, James allowed his grades to drop.

My question is: is " drop his grades" correct ?

Thanks

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

The important thing to notice here is the opening modifier rule. "Unaccustomed to the rigors of college life" is an opening modifier that must be followed by the noun it's modifying. So I guess we could say "Unaccustomed to the rigors of college life, James dropped his grades." However, there could be a problem here in saying "James dropped his grades" as it sounds like he dropped them on the floor by accident (and then the dog peed on them). Usually when we talk about grades dropping we use the passive voice, such as "my grades have dropped this semester". Check out page 120 of the SC strategy guide about passive voice.