Nice question

I would like to know, what is the difference between using discovering and discovery as used in D and E

I believe you can eliminate A, B, and C because "in addition to her work" should be modifying the contribution she makes not Mary Leaky.

Eliminate E because its not parallel. " her discovering ...and...documentation of"

D fixes that issue by stating "her discovery of...and her painstaking documentation of"

My first instict was to look for parrallelism since "and" is used to join two similar things. "discovery of..." and "painstakingly documenting" should be parallel.

ABE - are not parrallel

I had a problem with this modifier issue becuase I asked myself "what else was she (Mary) doing in addition to her work?
Seems as if Mary was a contributor to archaeology in addition to her work. Therefore I picked C

I'm assuming I should have asked " what was in addition to her work?" Then the only answer would be "Leaky's contributions to archeology"

My first instict was to look for parrallelism since "and" is used to join two similar things. "discovery of..." and "painstakingly documenting" should be parallel.

ABE - are not parrallel

I had a problem with this modifier issue becuase I asked myself "what else was she (Mary) doing in addition to her work?
Seems as if Mary was a contributor to archaeology in addition to her work. Therefore I picked C

I'm assuming I should have asked " what was in addition to her work?" Then the only answer would be "Leaky's contributions to archeology"

There are two questions in the GMAT prep software...

In addition to her work on the Miocene hominid fossil, Mary Leakey contributed to archaeology through her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and through her painstaking documentation of East African cave paintings.

A) Mary Leakey contributed to archaeology through her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and through her painstaking documentation of

B) Mary Leakey contributed to archaeology by her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and painstakingly documenting

C) Mary Leakey was a contributor to archaeology by discovering the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and with her painstaking documentation of

D) Mary Leakey's contributions to archaeology include her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and painstakingly documenting

E) Mary Leakey's contributions to archaeology include her discovering the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and painstaking documentation of

THE OA FOR THIS ONE IS A

Second question:

In addition to her work on the Miocene hominid fossil record, Mary Leakey contributed to archaeology with her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and painstakingly documenting East African cave paintings.

A) Leakey contributed to archaeology with her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and painstakingly documenting

B) Leakey contributed to archaeology by her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and by painstakingly documenting

C) Leakey was a contributor to archaeology with her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activvity and with her painstaking documentation of

D) Leakey's contributions to archaeology include her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and her painstaking documentation of

E) Leakey's contributions to archaeology include discovering the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and painstaking documentation of

THE OA FOR THIS QUESTION IS D

Experts please address the two questions...

Final solution at one place:

Important: The purpose of this post (and all the other posts by me) is to give a complete solution to all GMAT-Prep Verbal questions at one place. Sometimes students have to wade through dozens of posts to get to the final answer. My posts will give one complete and crisp solution required to arrive at the correct answer by eliminating the wrong one. Some of the content in these posts may have been taken from various other sources (discussion forums).

In addition to her work on the Miocene hominid fossil record, Mary Leakey contributed to archaeology with her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and painstakingly documenting East African cave paintings.
(A) Leakey contributed to archaeology with her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and painstakingly documenting
(B) Leakey contributed to archaeology by her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and by painstakingly documenting
(C) Leakey was a contributor to archaeology with her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and with her painstaking documentation of
(D) Leakey's contributions to archaeology include her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and her painstaking documentation of
(E) Leakey's contributions to archaeology include her discovering the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and painstaking documentation of

A, B: 'discovery' is not parallel to 'documenting'
E: 'discovering' is not parallel to 'documentation'
C: uses the wrong idiom 'was a contributor with' ... completely wrong.

D is correct.

Another version of the same question:

In addition to her work on the Miocene hominid fossil record, Mary Leakey contributed to archaeology through her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and through her painstaking documentation of East African cave paintings.
A. Mary Leakey contributed to archaeology through her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and through her painstaking documentation of
B. Mary Leakey contributed to archaeology by her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and painstakingly documenting
C. Mary Leakey was a contributor to archaeology by discovering the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and with her painstaking documentation of
D. Mary Leakey's contributions to archaeology include her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and painstakingly documenting
E. Mary Leakey's contributions to archaeology include her discovering the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and painstaking documentation of

B, D: 'discovery' is not parallel to 'documenting'
C, E: 'discovering' is not parallel to 'documentation'

A is correct.