532. New theories propose that catastrophic impacts of asteroids and comets may have caused reversals in the Earth’s magnetic field, the onset of ice ages, splitting apart continents 80 million years ago, and great volcanic eruptions.
(A) splitting apart continents
(B) the splitting apart of continents
(C) split apart continents
(D) continents split apart
(E) continents that were split apart
Hi All,
I am unable to understand the difference between A an B, please shed some light on this question.
Advance Thanks
Mahantesh
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kidnly explian the differece in between A and B.
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goelmohit2002
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IMO
A = here splitting is acting as verb (due to absence of "the"
B = it is acting as noun...whatever follows( articles like "a", "an", "the" is noun)...
since we need to have noun parallelism as required in the sentence...so we need to have the correct option as B....
A = here splitting is acting as verb (due to absence of "the"
B = it is acting as noun...whatever follows( articles like "a", "an", "the" is noun)...
since we need to have noun parallelism as required in the sentence...so we need to have the correct option as B....
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aspirant2011
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remember a rule if u place the in front of something and the same construction sounds meaningful then that something is definitely a noun..........
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killer1387
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Jim@Grockit
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Fractal
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so what does this mean for this two sentences? correct or not?Fractal wrote:would
splitting apart of continents
be correct?
would
the splitting apart continents
be correct?
i think the first one is correct, but not the second.
thx for help!
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mundasingh123
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splitting apart of continents needs to be preceded by article "the "Fractal wrote:would
splitting apart of continents
be correct?
would
the splitting apart continents
be correct?
i think the first one is correct, but not the second.
thx for help!
I Seek Explanations Not Answers
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prateek_guy2004
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(A) splitting apart continents ( not complete)
(B) the splitting apart of continents ( this is what we need)dont look for parallism ..
IMO B
(B) the splitting apart of continents ( this is what we need)dont look for parallism ..
IMO B
Don't look for the incorrect things that you have done rather look for remedies....
https://www.beatthegmat.com/motivation-t90253.html
https://www.beatthegmat.com/motivation-t90253.html
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vietmoi999
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Please, explain the difference between a participle and a gerundJim@Grockit wrote:It is a participle in A and a gerund in B.
If anyone in this gmat forum is in England, pls email to me([email protected]) . I have some problems and need your advise. Thank a lot
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e-GMAT
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Hi @vietmoi999,
You are not alone in "this confusion". More often than not, people do get confused between gerund and present participle. It is because they both have the same form - verb+ing. However, they do have a difference.
GERUND: A gerund is formed by adding 'ing' to a verb. Essentially, gerunds function as nouns. They do denote an action but act as a noun in the sentence. For example:
Swimming is my favorite hobby.
Here, "Swimming" certainly denotes an action but it functions as a noun in this sentence, acting as a subject.
Asking questions is no crime.
"Asking" is a gerund. It denotes an action but is a noun in the sentence that acts like a verb.
PRESENT PARTICIPLE: They are also formed using 'ing' with the verb. However, present participles in a sentence act either like an adverb or an adjective. At e-gmat, we call them verb-ing modifiers. They either modify the verbs or the nouns in the sentence. For example:
The rising sun has inspired my photographers and painters.
Here "rising" is modifying the noun "sun", hence acting like an adjective.
Asking the same question again and again, Bob kept disturbing the class.
Here "asking..." is a verb-ing modifier because it refers to the verb "kept disturbing". How did Bob keep disturbing the class? He did so by asking same question again and again. Here "asking the same question again and again" is working like an adverb and hence is a verb-ing modifier.
Take Away
So they thing to note here is to understand that verb-ing words play multiple roles. And then understand the meaning of the sentence to determine what role the verb-ing word plays in a certain sentence.
To know more about this topic you may read the article on "Various Functions of Verb-ing Words".
Hope this helps.
Payal
You are not alone in "this confusion". More often than not, people do get confused between gerund and present participle. It is because they both have the same form - verb+ing. However, they do have a difference.
GERUND: A gerund is formed by adding 'ing' to a verb. Essentially, gerunds function as nouns. They do denote an action but act as a noun in the sentence. For example:
Swimming is my favorite hobby.
Here, "Swimming" certainly denotes an action but it functions as a noun in this sentence, acting as a subject.
Asking questions is no crime.
"Asking" is a gerund. It denotes an action but is a noun in the sentence that acts like a verb.
PRESENT PARTICIPLE: They are also formed using 'ing' with the verb. However, present participles in a sentence act either like an adverb or an adjective. At e-gmat, we call them verb-ing modifiers. They either modify the verbs or the nouns in the sentence. For example:
The rising sun has inspired my photographers and painters.
Here "rising" is modifying the noun "sun", hence acting like an adjective.
Asking the same question again and again, Bob kept disturbing the class.
Here "asking..." is a verb-ing modifier because it refers to the verb "kept disturbing". How did Bob keep disturbing the class? He did so by asking same question again and again. Here "asking the same question again and again" is working like an adverb and hence is a verb-ing modifier.
Take Away
So they thing to note here is to understand that verb-ing words play multiple roles. And then understand the meaning of the sentence to determine what role the verb-ing word plays in a certain sentence.
To know more about this topic you may read the article on "Various Functions of Verb-ing Words".
Hope this helps.
Payal
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GaneshMalkar
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So A is present participle and B is gerund?
In A "splitting apart continents", but "splitting" is acting as a verb and not as adverb if I am correct.
In A "splitting apart continents", but "splitting" is acting as a verb and not as adverb if I am correct.
If you cant explain it simply you dont understand it well enough!!!
- Genius
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e-GMAT
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Hi GaneshMalkar,
Thank you for the post
You have correctly identified that in option A 'splitting' is the present participle form while in option B it is a gerund.
But I notice that you have stated that in choice A "splitting" is a verb. To ensure that you understand the concept well, I will ask a question:
The cat running behind the rat eventually caught it.
In the above sentence, do you think that "running" acts as verb or as a verb-ing modifier?
Likewise, look at the sentence below:
The cat was running behind the rat and eventually caught it.
Now in the above sentence, do you think "was running" is a verb?
What is the difference in how "running" has been used in the two sentences?
Now let's look at the sentence structure to find out more about the function of 'splitting', assuming that you are of the understanding that "splitting" is not a verb..
In the list, the present participle 'splitting' seems to modify the preceding clause, since it is placed after a clause and preceded by a comma.
This modifier tells us how the catastrophic impacts may have caused the onset of ice ages. How? By splitting apart continents. This is illogical since the splitting apart of continents cannot contribute in the onset of ice ages.
So, to make this sentence logically correct, it makes sense to make this element parallel to the other three elements of the list, and hence, it is converted into a gerund noun in option B.
Notice what we did here.
1: We first understood the roles played by different entities in the sentence by understanding the sentence structure
2: Then we applied the logical check and found that the sentence is illogical the way it is written
3: Lastly, we brainstormed and thought what meaning would actually make sense given the context of the sentence and how best we can express that meaning.
So sentence structure and meaning are the keys
Hope this helps!
Deepak
Thank you for the post
You have correctly identified that in option A 'splitting' is the present participle form while in option B it is a gerund.
But I notice that you have stated that in choice A "splitting" is a verb. To ensure that you understand the concept well, I will ask a question:
The cat running behind the rat eventually caught it.
In the above sentence, do you think that "running" acts as verb or as a verb-ing modifier?
Likewise, look at the sentence below:
The cat was running behind the rat and eventually caught it.
Now in the above sentence, do you think "was running" is a verb?
What is the difference in how "running" has been used in the two sentences?
Now let's look at the sentence structure to find out more about the function of 'splitting', assuming that you are of the understanding that "splitting" is not a verb..
- "¢ New theories propose
o that catastrophic impacts of asteroids and comets may have caused
 reversals in the Earth's magnetic field,
 the onset of ice ages,
"¢ splitting apart continents 80 million years ago,
 and great volcanic eruptions.
In the list, the present participle 'splitting' seems to modify the preceding clause, since it is placed after a clause and preceded by a comma.
This modifier tells us how the catastrophic impacts may have caused the onset of ice ages. How? By splitting apart continents. This is illogical since the splitting apart of continents cannot contribute in the onset of ice ages.
So, to make this sentence logically correct, it makes sense to make this element parallel to the other three elements of the list, and hence, it is converted into a gerund noun in option B.
Notice what we did here.
1: We first understood the roles played by different entities in the sentence by understanding the sentence structure
2: Then we applied the logical check and found that the sentence is illogical the way it is written
3: Lastly, we brainstormed and thought what meaning would actually make sense given the context of the sentence and how best we can express that meaning.
So sentence structure and meaning are the keys
Hope this helps!
Deepak
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GaneshMalkar
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running is in verb-ing modifier in first sentence and "was running" is a complete working verb if I am correct.e-GMAT wrote:Hi GaneshMalkar,
Thank you for the post
You have correctly identified that in option A 'splitting' is the present participle form while in option B it is a gerund.
But I notice that you have stated that in choice A "splitting" is a verb. To ensure that you understand the concept well, I will ask a question:
The cat running behind the rat eventually caught it.
In the above sentence, do you think that "running" acts as verb or as a verb-ing modifier?
Likewise, look at the sentence below:
The cat was running behind the rat and eventually caught it.
Now in the above sentence, do you think "was running" is a verb?
What is the difference in how "running" has been used in the two sentences?
Now let's look at the sentence structure to find out more about the function of 'splitting', assuming that you are of the understanding that "splitting" is not a verb..
So, this sentence consists of a list of elements that might have been stimulated by the catastrophic impacts of asteroids and comets.
- "¢ New theories propose
o that catastrophic impacts of asteroids and comets may have caused
 reversals in the Earth's magnetic field,
 the onset of ice ages,
"¢ splitting apart continents 80 million years ago,
 and great volcanic eruptions.
In the list, the present participle 'splitting' seems to modify the preceding clause, since it is placed after a clause and preceded by a comma.
This modifier tells us how the catastrophic impacts may have caused the onset of ice ages. How? By splitting apart continents. This is illogical since the splitting apart of continents cannot contribute in the onset of ice ages.
So, to make this sentence logically correct, it makes sense to make this element parallel to the other three elements of the list, and hence, it is converted into a gerund noun in option B.
Notice what we did here.
1: We first understood the roles played by different entities in the sentence by understanding the sentence structure
2: Then we applied the logical check and found that the sentence is illogical the way it is written
3: Lastly, we brainstormed and thought what meaning would actually make sense given the context of the sentence and how best we can express that meaning.
So sentence structure and meaning are the keys
Hope this helps!
Deepak
So "splitting" if used as a present participle and placed after a comma it should modify the clause present before the comma? Here in the above case I agree its illogical to use present participle.
If you cant explain it simply you dont understand it well enough!!!
- Genius
- Genius
