Mission critical modifier SC

[himanshu2727]

C: Not parallel. "sacrificing of.." is a complex gerund. Complex gerund needs to be parallel with complex gerund or action noun. Here' gale winds' is a proper noun

E: Parallelism is maintained. 'Sacrifice' is parallel to 'gale winds'.

[jlucero]

C: Not parallel. "sacrificing of.." is a complex gerund. Complex gerund needs to be parallel with complex gerund or action noun. Here' gale winds' is a proper noun

E: Parallelism is maintained. 'Sacrifice' is parallel to 'gale winds'.

Your thinking is correct. Was there a question here?

[himanshu2727]

Thanks for your reply. Just wanted to confirm my understanding.

Will you please help me with the below mentioned query?

a) (GMAT Prep question) Visitors to the park have often looked up into the leafy canopy and saw monkeys sleeping on the branches, whose arms and legs hang like socks on a clothesline.

(A) saw monkeys sleeping on the branches, whose arms and legs hang
(B) saw monkeys sleeping on the branches, whose arms and legs were hanging
(C) saw monkeys sleeping on the branches, with arms and legs hanging
(D) seen monkeys sleeping on the branches, with arms and legs hanging
(E) seen monkeys sleeping on the branches, whose arms and legs have hung

OA-D
GMAT Prep explanation for 'E'- whose illogically refers to branches.
1) If we ignore the tense error in 'E', is it still an incorrect choice based on noun modified by 'whose'? Can't 'whose' refer to 'monkeys' as 'sleeping on the branches modifies 'monkeys'?
2) How 'with arms and legs...' in 'D' refers to the action 'sleeping' and not 'branches'? As per my knowledge, there is no rule for 'COMMA+Prep phrase'. 'with arms and legs..' can grammatically refer to 'branches'. Prep phrases play role of an adverbial modifier or adjectival modifier. I am confused. According to me, if we ignore tense error for E, then 'E" and 'D' both have logical modifiers. (** I am not questioning correctness of OG answers but trying to understand the concept)

b) (OG 12th edition)

[deleted because problem is from a banned source - see below]

Can you please explain how prepositional modifiers function-when they are at end of sentence, at start of the sentence, with comma, without comma?
Any help is deeply appreciated.

[tim]

OG is a banned source; it is illegal to post OG questions anywhere on the web. If you are in one of our classes, please ask OG questions during office hours or before/after class.

As for the questions about the GMAT Prep question...

1) "whose" cannot refer to monkeys, as a relative pronoun following a comma refers to the closest eligible noun before the comma. "branches" is an eligible noun (think of "branches, whose leaves are green" as a perfectly fine use of "whose" to refer to "branches"), so that's the source of the error in all the choices that use "whose".

2) "with" doesn't refer to "branches" precisely because there's a comma. If we wanted to talk about "branches with arms and legs" as though the branches had arms and legs, we would need to remove the comma.

More generally, unless you have a situation where you are FORCED to attach a modifier to a particular thing, you should consider whether ANY possible interpretation makes sense. There is a valid interpretation in D that does not violate any grammar rules, so we go with that. Unfortunately, prepositional phrases vary so widely in their usage that we cannot supply a comprehensive list of rules, but you should definitely pay attention to all the examples you find for you can get a better understanding of how the GMAT uses prepositional phrases in practice.

[himanshu2727]

OG is a banned source; it is illegal to post OG questions anywhere on the web. If you are in one of our classes, please ask OG questions during office hours or before/after class.

As for the questions about the GMAT Prep question...

1) "whose" cannot refer to monkeys, as a relative pronoun following a comma refers to the closest eligible noun before the comma. "branches" is an eligible noun (think of "branches, whose leaves are green" as a perfectly fine use of "whose" to refer to "branches"), so that's the source of the error in all the choices that use "whose".

2) "with" doesn't refer to "branches" precisely because there's a comma. If we wanted to talk about "branches with arms and legs" as though the branches had arms and legs, we would need to remove the comma.

More generally, unless you have a situation where you are FORCED to attach a modifier to a particular thing, you should consider whether ANY possible interpretation makes sense. There is a valid interpretation in D that does not violate any grammar rules, so we go with that. Unfortunately, prepositional phrases vary so widely in their usage that we cannot supply a comprehensive list of rules, but you should definitely pay attention to all the examples you find for you can get a better understanding of how the GMAT uses prepositional phrases in practice.

Tim, what I want to understand is why the mission critical modifier doesn't work in this case of 'whose'?

a) Why can't 'whose' jump over 'sleeping on the branches' and refer to 'monkeys'?
"The editor of our local newspaper, who has earned much acclaim in her long career, has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize yesterday." (sentence-correction-chapter-7-problem-set-question-5-t8151.html)

'who...' is a relative clause separated by comma and it correctly refers to 'editor'. Please explain.

b) What is 'with arms and legs..' modifiying in the above sentence? Which noun or verb? Is 'sleeping' in 'sleeping on the branches' acting as a noun or verb? According to me, sleeping is acting as an adjective and prepositional phrases can modify nouns and verbs and not ADJECTIVES.

Please clarify. Awaiting your reply.
Thanking in advance.

Regards,
Himanshu2727

[jnelson0612]

OG is a banned source; it is illegal to post OG questions anywhere on the web. If you are in one of our classes, please ask OG questions during office hours or before/after class.

As for the questions about the GMAT Prep question...

1) "whose" cannot refer to monkeys, as a relative pronoun following a comma refers to the closest eligible noun before the comma. "branches" is an eligible noun (think of "branches, whose leaves are green" as a perfectly fine use of "whose" to refer to "branches"), so that's the source of the error in all the choices that use "whose".

2) "with" doesn't refer to "branches" precisely because there's a comma. If we wanted to talk about "branches with arms and legs" as though the branches had arms and legs, we would need to remove the comma.

More generally, unless you have a situation where you are FORCED to attach a modifier to a particular thing, you should consider whether ANY possible interpretation makes sense. There is a valid interpretation in D that does not violate any grammar rules, so we go with that. Unfortunately, prepositional phrases vary so widely in their usage that we cannot supply a comprehensive list of rules, but you should definitely pay attention to all the examples you find for you can get a better understanding of how the GMAT uses prepositional phrases in practice.

Tim, what I want to understand is why the mission critical modifier doesn't work in this case of 'whose'?

a) Why can't 'whose' jump over 'sleeping on the branches' and refer to 'monkeys'?
"The editor of our local newspaper, who has earned much acclaim in her long career, has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize yesterday." (sentence-correction-chapter-7-problem-set-question-5-t8151.html)

'who...' is a relative clause separated by comma and it correctly refers to 'editor'. Please explain.

b) What is 'with arms and legs..' modifiying in the above sentence? Which noun or verb? Is 'sleeping' in 'sleeping on the branches' acting as a noun or verb? According to me, sleeping is acting as an adjective and prepositional phrases can modify nouns and verbs and not ADJECTIVES.

Please clarify. Awaiting your reply.
Thanking in advance.

Regards,
Himanshu2727

Hi there,
First, please see this thread which discusses the example you bring up in your first question: sentence-correction-chapter-7-problem-set-question-5-t8151.html I hope that this thread will help make clear why the sentence you reference is okay. It shows one of the very few exceptions to the noun modifier "touch" rule.

Second, please read Ron's explanation of your second question in this thread: modifiers-t1351.html

I hope that this helps! :-)

[himanshu2727]

OG is a banned source; it is illegal to post OG questions anywhere on the web. If you are in one of our classes, please ask OG questions during office hours or before/after class.

As for the questions about the GMAT Prep question...

1) "whose" cannot refer to monkeys, as a relative pronoun following a comma refers to the closest eligible noun before the comma. "branches" is an eligible noun (think of "branches, whose leaves are green" as a perfectly fine use of "whose" to refer to "branches"), so that's the source of the error in all the choices that use "whose".

2) "with" doesn't refer to "branches" precisely because there's a comma. If we wanted to talk about "branches with arms and legs" as though the branches had arms and legs, we would need to remove the comma.

More generally, unless you have a situation where you are FORCED to attach a modifier to a particular thing, you should consider whether ANY possible interpretation makes sense. There is a valid interpretation in D that does not violate any grammar rules, so we go with that. Unfortunately, prepositional phrases vary so widely in their usage that we cannot supply a comprehensive list of rules, but you should definitely pay attention to all the examples you find for you can get a better understanding of how the GMAT uses prepositional phrases in practice.

Tim, what I want to understand is why the mission critical modifier doesn't work in this case of 'whose'?

a) Why can't 'whose' jump over 'sleeping on the branches' and refer to 'monkeys'?
"The editor of our local newspaper, who has earned much acclaim in her long career, has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize yesterday." (sentence-correction-chapter-7-problem-set-question-5-t8151.html)

'who...' is a relative clause separated by comma and it correctly refers to 'editor'. Please explain.

b) What is 'with arms and legs..' modifiying in the above sentence? Which noun or verb? Is 'sleeping' in 'sleeping on the branches' acting as a noun or verb? According to me, sleeping is acting as an adjective and prepositional phrases can modify nouns and verbs and not ADJECTIVES.

Please clarify. Awaiting your reply.
Thanking in advance.

Regards,
Himanshu2727

Hi there,
First, please see this thread which discusses the example you bring up in your first question: sentence-correction-chapter-7-problem-set-question-5-t8151.html I hope that this thread will help make clear why the sentence you reference is okay. It shows one of the very few exceptions to the noun modifier "touch" rule.

Second, please read Ron's explanation of your second question in this thread: modifiers-t1351.html

I hope that this helps! :-)

Thanks for the help.

[jnelson0612]

You are welcome! :-)