SC from sample test

[Anindya Madhudor]

Can someone please explain the rule for the following.

With surface temperature estimated at minus 230 degrees Fahrenheit, Jupiter's moon Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life, and with 60 square miles of water thought to be frozen from top to bottom.

a) Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life, and with
b) Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life, its
c) Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life and has
d) Europa, long considered far too cold to support life, and its
e) Europa, long considered far too cold to support life, and to have

OA:B

[GmatKiss]

With surface temperature estimated at minus 230 degrees Fahrenheit, Jupiter's moon Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life, and with 60 square miles of water thought to be frozen from top to bottom.

a) Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life, and with
b) Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life, its - Parallel and supporting the fact "far too cold to support life"
c) Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life and has
d) Europa, long considered far too cold to support life, and its
e) Europa, long considered far too cold to support life, and to have

AND should be introduced to new fact!!

[Kasia@EconomistGMAT]

Answer B is correct although the structure might seem quite strange to you, if you are unfamiliar with this type of a fragment.
The phrase that starts with "its" is a so-called ABSOLUTE PHRASE.
An absolute phrase combines a noun and a participle with any accompanying modifiers or objects. The pattern looks like this:

noun + participle + optional modifier(s) and/or object(s)

Here are some examples:

Legs quivering

Legs = noun; quivering = participle.

Her arms folded across her chest

Arms = noun; folded = participle; her, across her chest = modifiers.

Our fingers scraping the leftover frosting off the plates

Fingers = noun; scraping = participle; frosting = direct object; our, the, leftover, off the plates = modifiers.

Rather than modifying a specific word, an absolute phrase will describe the whole clause:

Legs quivering, our old dog Gizmo dreamed of chasing squirrels.

Her arms folded across her chest, Professor Hill warned the class about the penalties of plagiarism.