After many years of difficult negotiations

[RobertS667]

Hi,

Sentence Correction Guide 6th edition page 174

After many years of difficult negotiations, a deal has been reached that will lower tariffs and end many subsidies, potentially changing the lives of millions of people in both the developed and the developing world.

In the given sentence why does the modifier beginning with potentially have to modify the verbs tariffs and end? My thought was that it could also modify deal and I could set it up to a parallel modifier e.g. deal has been reached that will lower tariffs and end many subsidies, and potentially will change...

My reference is the noun modifier placement rule on page 167: "It is fine to set a modifier not directly next to the noun, if it is part of a series of parallel modifiers, one of which touches the noun. The short predicate falls in-between the noun deal and the first modifier, which is fine and two parallel modifiers follow.

Thanks

[RonPurewal]

that's a "comma __ing" modifier. those don't describe nouns; they describe actions.

that one is describing the 2 actions that come before it ("lower xxxx and end yyyy").

[JbhB682]

Hi Sage - I don't understand what the adverbial modifier is modifying in this sentence

My understanding is that adverbial modifiers (Comma + -ing ) modify the entire previous clause

In this case the clause is

"A deal has been reached (relative modifier : that will lower.... Subsidies), (adverbial modifier : changing the lives.... Developing world)

But in SC sixth guide page 176, it says the adverbial modifiers instead is modifying the relative modifier

"that will lower tariffs and end many subsidies"

Should it not be modifying instead

"A deal has been reached"

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

The SC guide is fine on this point - there's no error here. It's important to note that adverbial modifiers are much more flexible than noun modifiers. Check out page 63 in chapter 4 of the SC guide for more on this.

In the example sentence above, consider the meaning: what is it that's going to potentially change the lives of millions of people? Is it the fact that the deal has been reached or the things that the deal is going to do? It's say that it's the latter.

Consider this sentence: "A deal has been reached, potentially changing the lives of millions of people." I hope that sounds a bit funny to you; it's not the reaching of the deal that will make a difference, but the deal itself (or what it does).

[JbhB682]

So I had a chance to look up page 63 in the SC guide

Following was an example

The engineer fixed the problem, earning himself a promotion

Per the SC guide the adverbial modifier in the underline is referring to the clause (in italics) which was my understanding as well

But if I were to expand on this example :

The engineer fixed the problem by tightening the wires and screwing new bolts on, earning himself a promotion

In this case, the adverbial modifier in the underline is no longer referring to the clause (like in the the above example) but instead referring to the actions in the red and the blue only

Is my understanding accurate on this ?

Thank you

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

I would say no. The first thing to note is, as I mentioned above, adverbial modifiers are more flexible than noun modifiers. So, in the sentence you cite, then the modifier 'earning himself a promotion' could be modifying the earlier clause 'fixed the problem'. It really depends on the meaning of the sentence. Tentatively, I would say that your example is ambiguous: did the engineer earn the promotion by fixing the problem, or by something special with the actions in red and blue? However, I think that's too subtle a point to be tested on GMAT.