The observation of a new pattern for classifying

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The observation of a new pattern for classifying precipitation events in the south Pacific permits meteorologists to study once-rare storm types more generally and analyzing the impact of such events on isolated island populations in the region.

(A) The observation of a new pattern for classifying precipitation events in the south Pacific permits meteorologists to study once-rare storm types more generally and analyzing

(B) Through the observation of a new pattern for classifying precipitation events in the south Pacific, once-rare storm types were studied by meteorologists who analyzed

(C) When they observed a new pattern for classifying precipitation events in the south Pacific, meteorologists studied once-rare storm types more generally, analyzing

(D) Observing a new pattern for classifying precipitation events in the south Pacific, once-rare storm types have been studied by meteorologists, who analyzed

(E) Observing a new pattern for classifying precipitation events in the south Pacific, meteorologists have studied once-rare storm types more generally and analyzed

The OA is E.

Why the option D is wrong? Is because it does not have the phrase "more generally"?

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by VJesus12 » Sat Oct 21, 2017 6:19 pm
Hello Vincen.

I also have the same doubt of you. I don't know how to discard option D, it is almost the same as E.

Experts, can you give us some help? Thanks.

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by ErikaPrepScholar » Mon Oct 23, 2017 9:55 am
Hey folks,

What we've got here is a modifier error - when we have a descriptive phrase set off from the sentence with a comma, it MUST describe the noun it is closest to.

In D and E, our modifier is "Observing a new pattern for classifying precipitation events in the south Pacific". Okay, so who or what is observing a weather pattern?

In D, the closest noun is "once-rare storm types". Can storm types observe weather patterns? Probably not. This doesn't make much sense.

In E, the closest noun is "meteorologists". A meteorologist studies the weather for a living, so it makes a lot of sense that they would be observing weather patterns.

So we can rule out D and pick E. Modifier problems are pretty common on the GMAT - they show up a lot at the beginnings of sentences, so watch out for sentences that begin with descriptive phrases set off by commas.
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