IMO E

dangling modifier. Preventing must modify acoustic energy and hence must directly be followed by acoustic energy

Sound can travel through water for enormous distances,
prevented from dissipating its acoustic energy as a result of
boundaries in the ocean created by water layers of different
temperatures and densities.
A. prevented from dissipating its acoustic energy as a
result of
B. prevented from having its acoustic energy dissipated by
C. its acoustic energy prevented from dissipating by
D. its acoustic energy prevented from being dissipated as
a result of
E preventing its acoustic energy from dissipating by

Hope this helps

Please Underline the Questions when you post them. It helps in better understanding

IMO - E

Present participles punctuated with comma generally act as adverb of attendant circumstances . The action mentioned in present participle takes place at the same time as the action taking place in the main clause .

Let me give you a example to explain this :

(1) Steinbeck produced the grape of wrath in five months .

(2) Steinbeck was writing in longhand .

The two sentences can be combined by using .......

Steinbeck produced the grape of wrath in five months , writing in longhand .

Here the act of writing in long hand and the act of production of grape of wrath is taking place at the same time.

In the question that you have posted -

(1) Sound can travel through water for enormous distances.

and

(2) Sound is preventing its acoustic energy from dissipating by ......

The two clauses are combined by writing - Sound Sound can travel through water for enormous distances , preventing its acoustic energy from dissipating by......

SO E fits the bill ......

One point to be noted when we combine the two clauses - We remove the subject and the Be form of the verb. For example We got

- " Steinbeck produced the grape of wrath in five months , writing in longhand . " by removing Steinbeck was " from the second sentence Steinbeck was writing in short hand .

IMO C,
E- IMO is wrong coz it sounds like "sound itself is preventing the acoustic energy from dissipating"
D-wordy
A,B sound like sound itself is prevented from ....

geet wrote:Sound can travel through water for enormous distances,
prevented from dissipating its acoustic energy as a result of
boundaries in the ocean created by water layers of different
temperatures and densities.
A. prevented from dissipating its acoustic energy as a
result of
B. prevented from having its acoustic energy dissipated by
C. its acoustic energy prevented from dissipating by
D. its acoustic energy prevented from being dissipated as
a result of
E preventing its acoustic energy from dissipating by


OA l8r!!!

IMO D
C is wrong because
its acoustic energy prevented from dissipating means prevented from what? is the answer should be "dissipating"
D has "prevented from being dissipated" beacause of "boundaries in the ocean created by water layers"

Edited: Incorrect explanation.

OA is C "as a result of in D is awkward"

Does "its" is unambiguously refering to sound? Does this satisy the pronoun refernce?

It can as well refer to water, right? I need your guidance on this?

D is wrong: its too wordy for GMAT

In C:

Acoustic energy ,...is (Prevented from dissipating...)
Sub--> Verb..logical flow preferred by GMAT

In E: verb--> Sub.. this order is less preferred in GMAT

geet wrote:Sound can travel through water for enormous distances,
prevented from dissipating its acoustic energy as a result of
boundaries in the ocean created by water layers of different
temperatures and densities.
A. prevented from dissipating its acoustic energy as a
result of
B. prevented from having its acoustic energy dissipated by
C. its acoustic energy prevented from dissipating by
D. its acoustic energy prevented from being dissipated as
a result of
E preventing its acoustic energy from dissipating by


OA l8r!!!

I'm not really thrilled by any of them, but C is the least offensive.

We can eliminate both B and E because of the active verb "preventing"; sound isn't preventing it's own energy from dissipating, it's the properties of the ocean that do the preventing.

A's use of "prevented" is just as incorrect.

The problem that I have with C and D is the pronoun "it", which could refer to either "sound" or "water" (and since water is closer to it, technically water is the antecedent). However, pronoun ambiguity is a style issue, not a grammatical one, so C and D rule over A, B and E.

Between C and D, C is much tighter and conveys the same meaning, so is stylistically superior to D. We can also use our "avoid the word being" guideline to quickly eliminate D.

Here's how I would have written the sentence, had it been up to me:

Sound can travel through water for enormous distances,
since sound's acoustic energy is preserved by
boundaries in the ocean created by water layers of different
temperatures and densities.

Hi Stuart,

Thanks for the explaination. I am not convinced with any of the answers, but as you mentioned, C stands a fair chance.

C and D looks like run-on. IMO A , below is a link from nytimes, which has this sentence construction slightly modified, go down the page to look for the sentence.
https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/27/scien ... ine%20Life