Participial phrase

[sai]

Please clarify my doubt. I created this SC along the lines of another SC from a reliable source.

Light can travel through water for small distances, prevented from losing its energy as a result of density of water.

(A) prevented from losing its energy as a result of
(B) prevented from having its energy lost by
(C) its energy prevented from losing by
(D) its energy prevented from being lost as a result of
(E) preventing its energy from losing by


I can immediately eliminate (A), (B) and (D)

Which one is better: (C) or (E) and Why? I am trying to understand how each choice modifies the previous clause in the sentence. Is -ing form better than '-ed' form for modifying the clause?

[Guest]

+ing means that the action is an ongoing action, whereas +ed means it is ended. So IMO the answer is E.

[RonPurewal]

nope, (e) wouldn't fly here. if you attach an -ing modifier in that fashion, then the subject is automatically taken to be the same as the subject of the main clause. in this case, this would mean that the light itself is "preventing its energy from..."
also, "losing" is problematic; energy can't "lose" unless it's playing some sort of game, which of course makes no sense at all. if you said "preventing its energy from being lost", that would make sense, but the subject problem would still be unresolved.

(a) is actually the best of the five answer choices you've concocted here, although it is not without its problems ("as a result of" is wordy and could be replaced with "by"; you would need "the" before "density").