Crystal W wrote:I am a little confused about choice C and choice E. I understand most rapidly and slower are not parallel in E. OG said "The action, ricochet, is further described in a participial phrase in which traveling...is then further described in a comparison of travel speeds in cold and hot regions of Earth's crust." I don't agree with it and I think two that-clauses in E are parallel and they all modify seismic waves. In choice C, the structure is "Clause + Comma + Travelling" and I think travelling ... modifies the subject of previous clause -- seismic waves. Am I correct or someone can correct me?
Thanks in advance!
E:
seismic waves that originate in the earth's crust and ricochet around its interior and that travel most rapidly through cold, dense regions
Here, the
that-modifier in red serves to refer to
seismic waves.
Its role is purely adjectival, describing the KIND of seismic waves under discussion.
What KIND of seismic waves?
Seismic waves THAT TRAVEL MOST RAPIDLY THROUGH COLD, DENSE REGIONS.
OA:
seismic waves that originate in the earth's crust and ricochet around its interior, traveling most rapidly through cold, dense regions
Here, the COMMA + VERBing modifier in red serves to refer both to the preceding ACTION (
ricochet) and to the agent of this action (
seismic waves).
Unlike a
that-modifier -- whose function is purely adjectival -- a COMMA + VERBing modifier plays both an adjectival and an ADVERBIAL role.
As an adjective, it describes the agent of the preceding action.
As an adverb, it serves to express an action happening AT THE SAME TIME AS or AS A DIRECT RESULT OF the preceding action.
In the OA, one function of COMMA +
traveling is to serve as an ADJECTIVE describing the KIND of seismic waves under discussion.
What KIND of seismic waves?
Seismic waves TRAVELING MOST RAPIDLY THROUGH COLD, DENSE REGIONS.
However, COMMA +
traveling is also an ADVERB modifying the preceding action --
ricochet -- since the act of TRAVELING happens as a direct result of this action.
For this reason, COMMA +
traveling can be said to describe HOW seismic waves RICOCHET.
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