As the honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

"Comma + And" should connect two independent clauses per my understanding

That's the understanding that I'm questioning. Sure, sometimes 'and' is used as a conjunction to connect two independent clauses and we'd put a comma before it. But there are other occasions (see the examples above) in which "comma + and" isn't connecting two complete thoughts. It's a case of 'All A are B', but 'Not all B are A'.

[JbhB682]

Thank Sage - I see what you are saying now

On the following sentence you made up :

Tom plays football, and Sajid often joins him.

I am presuming this IS an example being used as a COMMA + FANBOY to join two independent sentences ?

The other sentences are other examples of "And"

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Yep, that's an example of COMMA + FANBOY.

My wider point is that language is so wide, that you're not going to be able to define the usage of every single word and grammar structure. Mastering GMAT Sentence Correction is a case of learning a few key rules, getting familiar with a style of language, analyzing how we use language already, and paying close attention to meaning.

[JbhB682]

Can I eliminate option A because of both these 2 reasons

As the honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed, staying where it is inserted, this results in the act of stinging causing the bee to sustain a fatal injury.

(A) As the honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed, staying where it is inserted, this results in the act of stinging causing

one way) 'staying where it is inserted' in option A is adverbial in nature (because of the comma + ING) and we know that 'staying where it is inserted' is not a RESULT of

The stinger being heavily barbed

Is that a fair elimination strategy for A ?

-------------------

2nd way) 'staying where it is inserted' is in between comma's and thus can be dropped because it is a non essential modifier.

If dropped - option A is now saying

As the honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed, this results in the act of stinging causing the bee to sustain a fatal injury.

This new sentence suggests the stinger has to heavily barded ONLY in order for for the act of stinging to cause an injury.

Is that an fair elimination strategy ?

[esledge]

Can I eliminate option A because of both these 2 reasons

Yes, but I added some comments below.

one way) 'staying where it is inserted' in option A is adverbial in nature (because of the comma + ING) and we know that 'staying where it is inserted' is not a RESULT of

The stinger being heavily barbed

Is that a fair elimination strategy for A ?

I agree that this isn't a great cause/effect: I mean, maybe the "is heavily barbed" is the reason it "stays where it is inserted," but it's not clear.

There's a clearer grammar problem with it: even if the cause/effect logic made sense, the adverbial "staying...inserted" needs to attach to a main clause, but the "As" preposition at the beginning of (A) makes that first part a dependent clause, so no (comma) -ing modifier could attach to it, regardless of meaning.

2nd way) 'staying where it is inserted' is in between comma's and thus can be dropped because it is a non essential modifier.

If dropped - option A is now saying

As the honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed, this results in the act of stinging causing the bee to sustain a fatal injury.

This new sentence suggests the stinger has to heavily barded ONLY in order for for the act of stinging to cause an injury.

Is that an fair elimination strategy ?

Of your two reasons, this is the better one! Taking that modifier out reveals that you still have a modifier/meaning issues (your comment).

I'll also add another structure/meaning note. The main clause is not great: "this results." It's not entirely clear what "this" refers to. Putting that aside, it's not a very meaty main clause: All the real action is buried in various modifiers. In contrast, the main clause of (E) is "The ... stinger is heavily barbed and stays ... inserted" which is much more the main idea.