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verb-ing modifiers - GMAT Prep

by vikram4689 » Sat Oct 27, 2012 5:55 am
We know following rule holds:
Verb+ING modifiers without comma ONLY modify preceding NOUN.

Below are 2 doubts regarding modifiers. Both deviate from vast-majority of OG,GMAT Prep problems that follow above rule. Are these exception or Gmac just didn't paid required attention to these points as solution to none of these GMAT prep sc questions hinge on identifying this modifier error i.e. both of these can be easily solved by paying attention to other errors.

1. what does "gathering" modify. is it acting as adjective to navigators or acting as adverb for clause - who...Earth
Like the great navigators who first sailed around the Earth gathering information about its size and the curvature of its surface, astronomers have made new observations that show with startling directness the large-scale geometry of the universe.

2. what does "drawing" modify. verb-ing modifiers without comma act as adjective but it is illogical for "drawing" to modify turns
The original building and loan associations were organized as limited life funds, whose members made monthly payments on their share subscriptions and then took turns drawing on the funds for home mortgages.
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by GMATGuruNY » Sun Oct 28, 2012 9:56 am
vikram4689 wrote:We know following rule holds:
Verb+ING modifiers without comma ONLY modify preceding NOUN.

Below are 2 doubts regarding modifiers. Both deviate from vast-majority of OG,GMAT Prep problems that follow above rule. Are these exception or Gmac just didn't paid required attention to these points as solution to none of these GMAT prep sc questions hinge on identifying this modifier error i.e. both of these can be easily solved by paying attention to other errors.

1. what does "gathering" modify. is it acting as adjective to navigators or acting as adverb for clause - who...Earth
Like the great navigators who first sailed around the Earth gathering information about its size and the curvature of its surface, astronomers have made new observations that show with startling directness the large-scale geometry of the universe.
A VERBing modifier serving as an ADJECTIVE often serves an ADVERBIAL function as well.
Sitting on a park bench, John ate his lunch.
Here, sitting serves as an adjective modifying John.
But sitting is not John's GENERAL state-of-being.
Rather, sitting indicates John's state of being as he ATE his lunch.
In this sense, sitting serves as an adverb, indicating HOW John ATE his lunch.

In the SC above, gathering serves similar dual functions: it describes the navigators' state-of-being (an adjectival function) as they SAILED (thereby serving to indicate HOW the navigators sailed, an adverbial function).

What's unusual here is that the VERBing modifier refers to the subject of the preceding relative clause but is not separated from the clause by a comma.
Here, the construction works because the noun that ends the relative clause -- the Earth -- is already FULLY RESTRICTED.
There is only ONE EARTH; there are not different types of THE Earth.
Since the Earth does not warrant further modification, it's clear that the modifier that follows the Earth -- gathering -- refers NOT to the Earth but to the nearest eligible noun that PRECEDES the Earth: the navigators.

If the relative clause here ended with a noun that COULD be further modified, the construction would not be viable.
Consider the following:
Like the great navigators who first sailed across an ocean gathering information...
Here, AN OCEAN is not fully restricted.
There are many types of oceans.
Since an ocean CAN be further modified, it seems as though gathering is modifying an ocean, implying that AN OCEAN is gathering information -- a distortion of the intended meaning.
Last edited by GMATGuruNY on Wed Nov 07, 2012 2:03 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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by GMATGuruNY » Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:16 am
vikram4689 wrote: The original building and loan associations were organized as limited life funds, whose members made monthly payments on their share subscriptions and then took turns drawing on the funds for home mortgages.
Here, drawing serves to modify turns.
What KIND of turns did the members take?
Turns DRAWING on the funds for home mortgages.
Regardless, to take turns VERBing is a common and acceptable idiom.
Last edited by GMATGuruNY on Sun Oct 28, 2012 7:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by vikram4689 » Sun Oct 28, 2012 6:08 pm
Mary ENTERED the room SMILING
but if we start accepting such constructions then our basic rules are violated. for example, we won't be to justify that between following 2 sentences a) is correct and b) is incorrect. moreover, many sc question test this principle of mis-placed modifier.
a)The recent surge in number of flights has clogged air-traffic control system, leading to 55 percent increase in delays at airports
b)The recent surge in number of flights has clogged air-traffic control system leading to 55 percent increase in delays at airports
Turns DRAWING on the funds for home mortgages.
this means "turns" are doing the action of drawing. isn' that non-sensical.

also, i found an explanation https://gmatclub.com/forum/verb-ing-modi ... l#p1104117 but i could not understand how "drawing"==gerund. do you think it is correct
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by GMATGuruNY » Sun Oct 28, 2012 7:06 pm
vikram4689 wrote: but if we start accepting such constructions then our basic rules are violated.
Please see my amended post above, in which I've clarified the reasoning.
Turns DRAWING on the funds for home mortgages.
this means "turns" are doing the action of drawing. isn' that non-sensical.

also, i found an explanation https://gmatclub.com/forum/verb-ing-modi ... l#p1104117 but i could not understand how "drawing"==gerund. do you think it is correct
They took turns [AT] drawing on the funds.
It's likely that to take turns VERBing is a contracted form of to take turns [AT] VERBing and that, over time, it has become acceptable to omit the preposition AT.
I wouldn't worry too much about how the VERBing is functioning here; just accept that to take turns VERBing is a common and correct idiom that means to alternate doing something.
Last edited by GMATGuruNY on Wed Nov 07, 2012 9:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by tanviet » Tue Oct 30, 2012 12:41 am
verb-ing +comma+ main clause.

in above sentence, verb ing can modify only the subject of the main clause

or

modify the total main clause.

I think in the beatthegmat and gmatclub , the examples of the 2 cases above can be found.
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by lunarpower » Tue Nov 06, 2012 9:05 am
vikram4689 wrote:We know following rule holds:
Verb+ING modifiers without comma ONLY modify preceding NOUN.

Below are 2 doubts regarding modifiers. Both deviate from vast-majority of OG,GMAT Prep problems that follow above rule. Are these exception or Gmac just didn't paid required attention to these points as solution to none of these GMAT prep sc questions hinge on identifying this modifier error i.e. both of these can be easily solved by paying attention to other errors.
1. what does "gathering" modify. is it acting as adjective to navigators or acting as adverb for clause - who...Earth
Like the great navigators who first sailed around the Earth gathering information about its size and the curvature of its surface, astronomers have made new observations that show with startling directness the large-scale geometry of the universe.
this isn't really an exception. there are 2 modifiers that describe navigators (who first sailed around the Earth and gathering...). it's impossible to place both of them directly after navigators; one of them has to come after the other.
as mitch has pointed out, it's more logical to place gathering... second, because that modifier also happens to describe why they sailed around the earth.
if you wanted to emphasize that aspect, you could place a comma before gathering...

consider the following --
I saw a man in a red shirt sleeping on the bus.
--> here, "in a red shirt" and "sleeping on the bus" both describe "a man". again, one of them has to come second.

2. what does "drawing" modify. verb-ing modifiers without comma act as adjective but it is illogical for "drawing" to modify turns
The original building and loan associations were organized as limited life funds, whose members made monthly payments on their share subscriptions and then took turns drawing on the funds for home mortgages.
the easiest way to deal with this example is to view take turns ___ing as idiomatic.
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