Kindly look at the following thread please...where hyphen is tested:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/shark-modifi ... 41458.html

Take a look in that thread for my reply.

Hmm. In general, if you don't have a comma, an -ing modifier is acting as a noun modifier, yes. Can we ALWAYS drop it? I hate saying "always" about any grammar rule because it seems like this language always has exceptions! (Okay, that's the one thing I can say "always" seems to be true!)

But, in general on this one, you can assume that a noun followed directly by an -ing (no comma) is a noun modifier set up.

The cat circling the mouse is a tabby. "circling the mouse" modifies "cat."

Note that -ing words can also function in many different ways, though - so that doesn't mean that, if there's no comma, the -ing word is a noun modifier. For instance, the -ing word could be the noun itself.

Playing tennis is fun. The subject here (the noun) is actually the word "playing," not the word "tennis."

or: Swatting flies is fun. Here, it's a little more obvious because "flies" is plural (where "tennis" was singular).

The meaning is the same in both.

a) noun + that verb
b) or noun + verb"ing" setup....(without comma)

First, to clarify, we're talking about the circumstance in which the -ing word is used as an adjective to modify the noun. (As opposed to, say, a possessive noun + gerund, where the gerund itself is functioning as the noun. This construction is considered awkward.)

It really depends upon the setup (as to whether one is correct or both are and whether the meaning is strictly the same). A lot of times, the "noun + -ing" setup is considered more awkward / potentially confusing though, so if you have to guess, go with the "that" option.

a) noun + that <modifying phrase>
b) verb + that <independent clause>

Aa a general rule, yes. The word "that" has multiple uses (unlike who, which, etc, which pretty much function as relative pronouns).

The woman thought that the cat was cute.
subj verb THAT subj verb obj

There are certain sentence set-ups (and certain verbs) that tend to be structured as the above sentence is structured - subj verb THAT subj verb obj. That entire thing is considered the core sentence.

You can't do the same thing with who or which.

But, "that" can also introduce a modifying phrase, and we'll mostly see that with a noun or noun phrase first, not a conjugated verb.

it is commonly said that "being in general is always wrong in GMAT"...

Can you please tell in which cases, being is correct usage ? How to identify the same ? Also kindly tell does "being" denotes present tense or past tense or it can be used with all tenses ?

Almost always, yes - but not always. There are 1 or 2 GMATPrep questions that include "being" in the correct answer and I've seen a couple of others over the years.

In general, try the given sentence with and without the word being (if a choice substitutes another word or word form, use that instead). If you have the option, choose the choice that works without the word "being."

BUT, save that kind of consideration for last. Deal with whatever else you can deal with first, and use "being" as a kind of tiebreak. (Same with redundancy / awkwardness.)

"Being" can be used correctly in verb form as a present participle and is often passive when used this way. It can also be used as a gerund. Eg:

She is being recruited by the best team in the league.
The security guard was hired to prevent the jewels from being stolen.

But again - back to what I said before. I do NOT use "being" as a starting point. I deal with everything else first and see whether I have an acceptable option that doesn't use "being." If I only have options left that use "being," then I can forget about debating that particular word. If I have options left that don't use "being," then I prefer one that does not use that word.

Stacey Koprince wrote:
(As opposed to, say, a possessive noun + gerund, where the gerund itself is functioning as the noun. This construction is considered awkward.)


Thanks a lot Stacey !!!

Can you please give one example of what you mean to say above ?

For example:
The cat's running away was a result of the loud, scary noise. "Cat's running" is a possessive noun + gerund. That's awkward.

It would be better to say something like: As a result of the loud, scary noise, the cat ran away.