Sentence Correction

I came across this old standard question and I ahve just 1 doubt about the modifier usage in the correct option.

Unlike computer skills or other technical skills, there is a disinclination on the part of many people to recognize the degree to which their analytical skills are weak.
(A) Unlike computer skills or other technical skills, there is a disinclination on the part of many people to recognize the degree to which their analytical skills are weak.
(B) Unlike computer skills or other technical skills, which they admit they lack, many people are disinclined to recognize that their analytical skills are weak.
(C) Unlike computer skills or other technical skills, analytical skills bring out a disinclination in many people to recognize that they are weak to a degree.
(D) Many people, willing to admit that they lack computer skills or other technical skills, are disinclined to recognize that their analytical skills are weak.
(E) Many people have a disinclination to recognize the weakness of their analytical skills while willing to admit their lack of computer skills or other technical skills.

In the correct answer D what type of modifier is the one that starts with a present participle 'willing'?. It looks like a 'present particicple' modifer separated by commas and hence should be a verb modifier. But in fact it is modifies people. Don't we need a 'while willing' or a 'who are willing'?

thanks,

I like E the best.

I think D has a misplaced gerund of some sort.

I do like D...

I think that "willing to admit that they lack computer skills or other technical skills" is a non-essential modifier, that is why is placed between commas. Non-essential modifiers are modifiers that provide extra information to the sentence.

Many people, willing to admit that they lack computer skills or other technical skills, are disinclined to recognize that their analytical skills are weak.

Many people are disinclined to recognize that their analytical skills are weak.

Taking the modifier out of the sentence, does not affect its main idea.

I hope that I'm right and that this helps you! Any other ideas?

Anton8103,
Thanks, but I understand that the modifier is a non-essential modifier and that D is the best choice. The point of putting it down here is to understand the type of the modifier(verb/noun).
thanks,

good doubt.

A similar doubt, I have asked to Kevin

https://www.beatthegmat.com/congress-t20583.html

paes wrote:good doubt.

A similar doubt, I have asked to Kevin

https://www.beatthegmat.com/congress-t20583.html

thanks paes. I have also asked Kevin in that thread. Hopeful we would get a reply either heer or there.

I cudn't find anything wrong in C option as well...

Concept, you're right that "willing to admit......" is a participial phrase. Participles and participial phrases function as adjectives, so they modify nouns. The phrase is correctly describing the noun "people" in answer choice D. Hope that helps!

Jen

I have read on multiple places that comma+ING is a adverbial modifier which obviously cann't modify to nouns.

But here, you are saying that it is a participle.

Then my basic question is :

How to differentiate between non-restrictive participle and adverbial modifier ?

jen@knewton wrote:Concept, you're right that "willing to admit......" is a participial phrase. Participles and participial phrases function as adjectives, so they modify nouns. The phrase is correctly describing the noun "people" in answer choice D. Hope that helps!

Thanks Jen. But still I have the same doubt as Paes. I have also read that 'pesent participle' modifier with comma is a verb modifier and that 'present participle' modifier without comma is a noun modifier. If I am getting you right, you are saying that 'present partciple' modifier with comma can modify a noun. Am I getting you right?

For now I follow the good old technique - if GMAT says somehting is ok, accept it

participle phrases separated out with coma most of the times modifies the subject.
yes this is a present participle.

hope this helps

Participial phrases are interesting -- the comma/no comma distinction affects how close a phrase must be to the noun or noun idea it modifies. When participial phrases are NOT set off by commas, they must be right next to the noun they're modifying. When they ARE set off by commas, the placement rules are a little looser; the participial phrase doesn't necessarily have to be next to the thing it's describing. In this sentence, it's not an issue because the modifier and noun are still right next to each other ("people" COMMA "willing"). But you could also have a sentence like this:

The actor spent less than an hour looking over his lines last week, playing Hamlet for the third time in a year.

Here, the participial phrase "playing Hamlet for the third time in a year" is still modifying the noun "actor," even though it's at the end of the sentence. (Bonus tip: When participial phrases are set off by commas at the end of a sentence, they usually describe the subject of the previous clause, as in the example above.) Whether or not they're set off by commas, participial phrases still function as ADJECTIVES to modify nouns or noun ideas. There are some rare situations where the logic of a phrase modifies a subject and that subject's actions, but on the GMAT participles modify nouns.

Hope that helps to clarify!

Thanks a lot Jen, for the detailed clarification.