amir_hatef wrote:OG 12th, Q.47:
Five fledgling sea eagles left their nests in western Scotland this summer, bringing to 34 the number of wild birds successfully raised since transplants from Norway began in 1975.
(A) bringing
(B) and brings
(C) and it brings
(D) and it brought
(E) and brought
Could you please explain how should we recognize to use present participle or past participle here? I confuse on using participles. thanks in advance.
You should have different types of arms to fight with sentence correction.
The techniques for this sentence:
1. Without knowing the use of "
Present participle":
Suppose you don't know the use of COMMA + VERBING. You can still eliminate the wrong options.
Here are the techniques:
(I)
COMMA + AND:
We use COMMA + AND in the following cases:
->
IC + COMMA + AND + IC, where IC is independent clause.
Example:
They were playing cricket, and I was playing football.
(II)
X, Y, and Z, where X, Y and Z are elements of a list for parallel things.
Example:
I have bought a shirt, a pant, and a book.
If we want to use AND in case of two things, we need not use COMMA before AND.
Example:
I have bought a shirt and a pant.
If we use two verbs for the same subject, we need not use COMMA before AND.
Example:
They have played well and won the prize.
=> On the basis of this rule, the options B and E can be eliminated.
Reference of "it"
It MUST have an antecedent, which will be a singular NOUN. Look at the sentence. There are two singular NOUNS "
western Scotland" and "
this summer"
Neither of these two NOUNs can be antecedent for the following reasons:
--> Neither "
Western Scotland" nor "
this summer" can bring to 34 the number of wild birds.
--> Since there are two singular NOUNS that can be used as antecedent of "it", it is ambiguous.
ANOTHER THING: Object of a preposition can very rarely be antecedent of a pronoun. Since "Western Scotland" and "this summer" are after the preposition "in", they are not eligible to be antecedent of it.
So, What can "it" refers to in this sentence?
"Sea eagles left their nests", and this incident brings the number of wild birds to 34.
BUT a clause cannot be antecedent of "it".
==> All these rules eliminate C and D.
Answer: A
