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Prepositional modifer

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Prepositional modifer

by nycknicks11 » Sun May 01, 2011 2:33 am
"with...." modifier- I guess this is a prep. mod.

I've seen this appears many time. Can a modifier modifies items within a prepositional phrase?

For gmat is this sentence ambiguous:

Made-up:

1)I ran the track at my school with glee.
2) When the temperature of a gas is increased, it.....

1a) Is it ambiguous whether glee modifies school or ran?
1b) What if you put a comma after school?
1c) Optimal: I ran, with glee (or gleefully), the track at my school. ?
2a) Is it unambiguous? (temperature vs gas)
2b) If answer to 2a is "depends on what follows it".. what would make sense if you want to refer to temp, what about gas?
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by Jim@Grockit » Sun May 01, 2011 8:29 am
Interesting. I would say:

1a) Your sentence is unambiguous entirely because of context -- I don't see how to make a meaningful sentence involving a school with glee, because glee is an emotion not easily attached to a building or organization. On the other hand, I walked down a street with a lot of problems is absolutely ambiguous.
1b) A comma would separate the prepositional phrase from school.
1c) Optimal is probably I gleefully ran the track at my school.
2a) It is ambiguous
2b) I am not sure what you are asking. The sentences When the temperature of a gas is increased, it registers a higher number on this gauge and When the temperature of a gas is increased, it approaches a plasma state both make sense, but only in context. Grammatically, though, it is ambiguous.
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