I have questions on the use of the demonstrative pronoun and the participial phrase with dangling modifier in the reading passage below cited from a TOEFL RC.
If the subject is 'Layering'? (I think it is the only possibility to prevent it from dangling modifier), what is the anticedent of the demonstrative pronoun these? 'sedimentary rocks'?
2. In the second sentense, what do you think about changing the part of the sentence into 'the oldest rocks in Grand Canyon situated at the base of the gorge are from the late Proterozoic Period.'
3. I think that 'those' and 'these' in the second sentense would makes the sentence ambigious, Woundn't it better to replace 'these' with 'them'? beacuse the antecedent would be 'the oldest rocks'?
1. In the first sentense, what is the subject of the participial 'meaning'?Layering occurs in sedimentary rocks as they accumulate through time, meaning that these hold the key to deciphering the succession of historical events in the Earth's past.
For example, geologists deduced that the oldest rocks in Grand Canyon are situated at the base of the gorge and are from the late Proterozoic Period, while those overlain atop these are from the younger Paleozoic era.
If the subject is 'Layering'? (I think it is the only possibility to prevent it from dangling modifier), what is the anticedent of the demonstrative pronoun these? 'sedimentary rocks'?
2. In the second sentense, what do you think about changing the part of the sentence into 'the oldest rocks in Grand Canyon situated at the base of the gorge are from the late Proterozoic Period.'
3. I think that 'those' and 'these' in the second sentense would makes the sentence ambigious, Woundn't it better to replace 'these' with 'them'? beacuse the antecedent would be 'the oldest rocks'?
