Sentence Correction

The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff, hissing and rearing back, broadens the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but, having no dangerous fangs and no venom, eventually, if its pursuer is not cowed by the performance, will fall over and play dead.

(A) broadens the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but, having no dangerous fangs and no venom,
(B) broadens the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigns repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom,
(C) broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigning repeated strikes, but it has no dangerous fangs and no venom, and
(D) broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigns repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom, and
(E) broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom, and

Hi,

Can someone please break down the parallelism in this problem. There's a bunch of modifiers. What is modifying what and how are the placements legal. I'm trying to reconcile the concept her and the concept in here: https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/og- ... t1277.html <= That's just one example of GMAT not liking a series of modifiers.

My feeble attempt at a breakdown:

"hissing and rearing" = adverbial modifier modifying the action of the snake. So i guess its ok for adverbial modifier to be all over the place.

Ron, I remember you said somewhere that you can't have series of "-ing modifers" separated by comma and that it should be linked by "and". https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/mod ... t2083.html. Can you please explain why that's allowed here?

Awesome thanks. Summarizing some takeways. Can you give me a thumbs up/down on these points? Thanks.

1) Consecutive "ing" modifier is ok. others are not.

2) consecutive "ing" modifier modifies the main subject. (Main clause, modifier 1, modifier 2 (modifier 2 modifies main clause not modifier 1)

3) introducing an "and" here is awkward because there are so many "and" already. Also, the "and" might not be parallel like sentence b below where "injuring" is suggested to be parallel with "wrecked". The exception to this is C, where there's a modifier in the middle.

a) the drunk driver wrecked his car, killing his passenger and injuring the other driver. --> correct
b) the drunk driver wrecked his car, killing his passenger, and injuring the other driver. --> incorrect
c) the drunk driver wrecked his car, killing his passenger, who was only 14 years old, and injuring the other driver.

lunarpower wrote:https://www.beatthegmat.com/the-hognose- ... tml#165219