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by iongmat » Tue Jun 03, 2014 10:50 am
Question 28 in OG-13:

In virtually all types of tissue in every animal species, dioxin induces the production of enzymes that are the organism's trying to metabolize, or render harmless, the chemical that is irritating it.

OG says: The -ing form of a verb can be used as a noun (e.g., running is her favorite sport), but it is often awkward, particularly when used with a possessive, as in this case.

Question 120 in OG-13:

Following is the right answer:

The World Wild life Fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon that most scientists agree is caused by human beings' burning of fossil fuels, will create havoc among migratory birds by altering the environment in ways harmful to their habitats.

Doubt: So, why is "human beings' burning" correct here in this sentence, in light of what OG remarks for Question 28?
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by Jim@StratusPrep » Thu Jun 05, 2014 6:50 am
In 120 you are referencing the burning, which is causing the problem discussed. It is not the trying in 28 that should be referenced in the sentence.
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by ceilidh.erickson » Thu Jun 05, 2014 7:34 am
I'm sure you're looking for an explanation that references the question you brought up about possessives and -ings. It's a very interesting question. The simple answer is... English doesn't always make sense!

The GMAT explanation to 28 notes that "-ing form of a verb can be used as a noun (e.g., running is her favorite sport), but it is often awkward" - meaning that there may be times when it is not awkward. "The organism's trying" could be better expressed by saying "the organism's attempt," but it's also part of a larger structure that very awkwardly modifies "enzymes." If the entire structure is awkward, we certainly also want to fix the possessive + -ing.

In 120, you could certainly argue that "human beings' incineration of fossil fuels" would fix this issue. And it's hard to exactly articulate why the GMAT doesn't think "human beings' burning" is a problem. It's most likely because "burning of fossil fuels" is a relatively common construction, so switching to "human beings' incineration of fossil fuels" might sound jarring.

Questions of "awkwardness" are very nebulous on the GMAT, because "awkward" is a relative/subjective term. The best you can do is be aware of common awkward constructions, but don't use them to eliminate answer choices, unless you've dealt with all other grammar and meaning issues in the sentence.
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by GMATGuruNY » Thu Jun 05, 2014 12:06 pm
iongmat wrote:Question 28 in OG-13:

In virtually all types of tissue in every animal species, dioxin induces the production of enzymes that are the organism's trying to metabolize, or render harmless, the chemical that is irritating it.

OG says: The -ing form of a verb can be used as a noun (e.g., running is her favorite sport), but it is often awkward, particularly when used with a possessive, as in this case.

Question 120 in OG-13:

Following is the right answer:

The World Wild life Fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon that most scientists agree is caused by human beings' burning of fossil fuels, will create havoc among migratory birds by altering the environment in ways harmful to their habitats.

Doubt: So, why is "human beings' burning" correct here in this sentence, in light of what OG remarks for Question 28?
The organism's trying to metabolize the chemical.
Here, a reader might construe the following meaning:
The organism IS trying to metabolize the chemical.
Since the intended meaning could be misconstrued, the structure is unacceptable.

Human beings' burning of fossil fuels.
Here, only one interpretation is possible:
The burning of fossils fuels -- burning attributed to human beings.
Since the intended meaning cannot be misconstrued, the structure is acceptable.

A key distinction:
The organism's trying to metabolize.
Here, to metabolize serves as the direct object of trying.
The resulting structure -- POSSESSIVE + GERUND + DIRECT OBJECT -- is not viable.

Human beings' burning of fossil fuels.
Here, of fossil fuels serves as an adjective modifying burning.
The resulting structure -- POSSESSIVE + GERUND + PREPOSITIONAL MODIFIER -- is ok.
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by iongmat » Sun Jun 08, 2014 7:23 am
Hello Mitch, can you let me know any specific reason why POSSESSIVE + GERUND + DIRECT OBJECT is not viable.

To me, "of fossil fuels" also seems like a direct object of "burning" (because "fossil fuels" are being burnt).

Quite tricky. Thanks for your response.
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by GMATGuruNY » Sun Jun 08, 2014 4:03 pm
iongmat wrote:Hello Mitch, can you let me know any specific reason why POSSESSIVE + GERUND + DIRECT OBJECT is not viable.

To me, "of fossil fuels" also seems like a direct object of "burning" (because "fossil fuels" are being burnt).

Quite tricky. Thanks for your response.
of fossil fuels is a PREPOSITIONAL MODIFIER.
A modifier cannot serve as a direct object.

John's burning of fossil fuels.
Here, of fossil fuels serves as an ADJECTIVE modifying burning.
The conveyed meaning is crystal clear.
Attributed to John is a type of burning: the BURNING OF FOSSIL FUELS.

If we omit of and transform fossil fuels into a direct object of burning, we get :
John's burning fossil fuels.
This wording lends itself to several interpretations.

Case 1: burning = adjective modifying fossil fuels
Conveyed meaning:
Attributed to John are fossil fuels that are burning.

Case 2: John's = a contraction of John is.
Conveyed meaning:
John is burning fossil fuels.

Case 3: burning = gerund
Conveyed meaning:
Burning is attributed to John.

Since POSSESSIVE + GERUND + DIRECT OBJECT can so easily be misinterpreted, the structure is not viable.
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by thang » Mon Sep 14, 2015 12:48 am
doing can be a noun and a gerund
as a noun, doing can go with "a", "the" and possessive. doing can have all fuctions of a noun and of course, a noun can not go with direct of ject.
as a gerund doing can not go with a, the, posseive but can have direct object.
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by thang » Mon Sep 14, 2015 12:57 am
in
my trying to learn gmat
we have to explain that
if noun exist, we use noun, attempt, not use doing.

because person can argue that trying can work as pure noun here. and the differenciation between doing as a noun and doing as a gerund dose not work to explain the above case.

very hard.
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