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The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff

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The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff

by abcgmat » Fri Oct 21, 2011 1:55 pm
The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff, hissing and rearing back, broadens the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but, having no dangerous fangs and no venom, eventually, if its
pursuer is not cowed by the performance, will fall over and play dead.
A. broadens the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but, having no dangerous fangs and no venom,
B. broadens the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigns repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom,
C. broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigning repeated strikes, but it has no dangerous fangs and no venom, and
D. broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigns repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom, and
E. broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom, and

Can we say
The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff, hissing and rearing back,broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigning repeated strikes, but it has no dangerous fangs and no venom, and

hissing...., broadening....---------describes how snake puts an impressive bluff.
But can we have long modifiers , they are also not seperated by 'and ' between them.
Can we have long moodifers describing how 'The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff'??
I thought long modifiers are not usually preferred
Can someone explain how C is correct
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by cyrwr1 » Fri Oct 21, 2011 4:54 pm
Broadening and feigning(Like: hissing and rearing) modifies the bluff

Leaving just choices C and E and in choice E, the"but with no fangs" modifies the "strikes", hence,

choice C is the best option.
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by GmatKiss » Fri Oct 21, 2011 9:34 pm
why not D?
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by shankar.ashwin » Fri Oct 21, 2011 10:16 pm
C IMO.

There is a sequence of things describing the bluff the snake puts on and it is best described in parallel.

Now, broadening ( _____), feigning (________) is parallel.
Also after that you have but with no dangerous fangs and no venom which should modify the snake, or have a pronoun referring the snake. Only C has this clear structure.
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by GMATGuruNY » Sat Oct 22, 2011 3:44 am
abcgmat wrote:The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff, hissing and rearing back, broadens the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but, having no dangerous fangs and no venom, eventually, if its
pursuer is not cowed by the performance, will fall over and play dead.
A. broadens the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but, having no dangerous fangs and no venom,
B. broadens the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigns repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom,
C. broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigning repeated strikes, but it has no dangerous fangs and no venom, and
D. broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigns repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom, and
E. broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom, and

Can we say
The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff, hissing and rearing back,broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigning repeated strikes, but it has no dangerous fangs and no venom, and

hissing...., broadening....---------describes how snake puts an impressive bluff.
But can we have long modifiers , they are also not seperated by 'and ' between them.
Can we have long moodifers describing how 'The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff'??
I thought long modifiers are not usually preferred
Can someone explain how C is correct
In A and B, PUTS and BROADENS imply a series of two distinct actions, but the intended meaning of the sentence is that these two actions happen AT THE SAME TIME. To convey CONTEMPORANEOUS action, the present participle (VERBing) is needed: the hognose snake puts on a bluff...BROADENING the flesh behind its head. Eliminate A and B.

In D, broadening and feigns are not parallel. Eliminate D.

In E, the list of actions is not parallel: broadening...feigning...and will fall over. Eliminate E.

The correct answer is C.

In C, the actions are parallel:
...HISSING and rearing, BROADENING...and FEIGNING...
...but it HAS...and will FALL OVER and PLAY dead.
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by zaarathelab » Fri Dec 09, 2011 12:17 am
Here's my take on this question:

Clause 1 (independent clause) - The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff
Mod1 - Hissing & Rearing back
Mod2 - Broadening the flesh....
Mod3 - Feigning repeated strikes
Clause 2 - But it has no ...... (subject and verb - Independent clause)

Mod 1 and Mod 3 are both end modifiers (participial), and hence need to refer back to the subject/action of the preceding clause - snake/snake putting on an impressive bluff.
In this special construction, Mod 2 refers back to Mod 1 - This can be arrived at by remembering that for more than 2 parallel items, we need to insert an AND. Since there is no AND in the list of Mod1, Mod2 and Mod3, one of them needs to refer back to another modifier. The only logical one is Mod2.

Only Choice C exhibits all the understood rules of parallelism and modifiers

This question gives a new meaning to the concepts of parallelism and modifiers
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by ani781 » Sat Oct 19, 2013 4:22 am
In A and B, PUTS and BROADENS imply a series of two distinct actions, but the intended meaning of the sentence is that these two actions happen AT THE SAME TIME. To convey CONTEMPORANEOUS action, the present participle (VERBing) is needed: the hognose snake puts on a bluff...BROADENING the flesh behind its head. Eliminate A and B.

In D, broadening and feigns are not parallel. Eliminate D.

In E, the list of actions is not parallel: broadening...feigning...and will fall over. Eliminate E.

The correct answer is C.

In C, the actions are parallel:
...HISSING and rearing, BROADENING...and FEIGNING...
...but it HAS...and will FALL OVER and PLAY dead.

Can someone kindly elaborate a bit more on this last piece... is it that "but it HAS" breaking the verb-ing parallel sequence and thereby maintaining the ||ism ?

Thanks!
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by [email protected] » Sat Oct 19, 2013 12:48 pm
Hi ani781,

There are actually 2 different verb-related grammar rules in this SC:

1) The "3 item list" that begins with the verb "hissing....": so the other 2 items in the list have to have the same "format" (-ing verbs). Here, the verbs "broadening..." and "feigning...." are necessary.

2) The word "but" introduces a new clause to the sentence, and that clause does not need to follow the same parallelism in the list.

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by ani781 » Sat Oct 19, 2013 7:16 pm
As always , Thanks a LOT Rich. So the takeaway is , for parallelism of this kind ( verb-ing, verb-ing ... verb-ing) always make sure that these constructs are in the same clause. Correct ?
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by [email protected] » Sat Oct 19, 2013 11:49 pm
Hi ani781,

You are absolutely correct. You're turning into a real killer.

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