SC Question

[Samy]

Source: Scoretop Forum Post. I know you don't recognize this source as appropriate for study, but I came across this.
Please help.

Five hundred million different species of living creatures have appeared on earth, nearly 99 percent of them vanishing.

1. Same
2. Nearly 99 percent of five hundred million different species that appeared on earth have vanished.
3. Vanished are nearly 99 percent of the five hundred million different species that appeared on earth
4. Of five hundred million different species that have appeared on earth, nearly 99 percent of them have vanished.
5. Of the five hundred million different species that have appeared on earth, nearly 99 percent have vanished.

Ans is between E and B. I am not sure

[StaceyKoprince]

As Samy mentioned, I'm not a fan of this source overall.

I'd go with E. Besides being generally awkward, B has a verb tense issue. It says "species that appeared" on earth. Appeared is simple past but, in this case, we want present perfect. We use past tense to discuss something that is completely over; we use present perfect to discuss something that started in the past but is either still true or still going on in the present. It is still true that the species appeared, so we want to say "have appeared" - which answer E does use and answer B does not.

[Samy]

Thanks for your ans.

Generally, can an Ans choice that is without a punctuation and that stretches on for 2 lines, be right.

Whats the diff when I say -
Of the five hundred million different species
vs
Of five hundred million different species

[StaceyKoprince]

Generally, sure.

If you insert the word "the" you are indicating that you have already been talking about these species and you're referring to them again. Without the "the" - it's the first instance in which you are talking about them.

[ritalun.zhang]

please let me know why D is not correct? is it because that 'them' is ambiguity?

[jnelson0612]

please let me know why D is not correct? is it because that 'them' is ambiguity?

If you can do without "them", don't include it. Them can refer to species, but you can improve concision by dropping out the "of them".

[pjain01]

"If you insert the word "the" you are indicating that you have already been talking about these species and you're referring to them again. Without the "the" - it's the first instance in which you are talking about them."

In answer choice E, there is no earlier reference of species but still we are using "the" ? Why it is correct in this case.

[tim]

"the" is also okay anytime we need to specify a specific noun. you seem to have in mind a rule that is not really a rule..

[SanjayB764]

As Samy mentioned, I'm not a fan of this source overall.

I'd go with E. Besides being generally awkward, B has a verb tense issue. It says "species that appeared" on earth. Appeared is simple past but, in this case, we want present perfect. We use past tense to discuss something that is completely over; we use present perfect to discuss something that started in the past but is either still true or still going on in the present. It is still true that the species appeared, so we want to say "have appeared" - which answer E does use and answer B does not.

Hi Instructors,

Sorry to open this old thread.

I understand that option E is the best option here; However I have a query regarding option A.

Option A) if we treat the phrase after comma as absolute phrase, Is'nt this option ,though awkward, grammatically correct?


Five hundred million different species of living creatures have appeared on earth, nearly 99 percent of them (noun phrase) vanishing (modifier)

Or is it incorrect because of the use of the modifier 'vanishing' instead of 'vanished' ?

If it had been vanished instead of vanishing, would the statement have been correct? Below :

Five hundred million different species of living creatures have appeared on earth, nearly 99 percent of them (noun phrase) vanished (modifier).

Thank you very much

[RonPurewal]

you can't use a "comma + __ing" modifier, because the resulting meaning is nonsense.

remember, that type of modifier must meaningfully modify (= describe, explain, clarify, etc.) the action in the preceding part.

here, though, the preceding part is about the appearance of species, so, clearly, the "vanishing" part cannot modify it.

[RonPurewal]

Five hundred million different species of living creatures have appeared on earth, nearly 99 percent of them (noun phrase) vanishing (modifier)

... and this version doesn't work, either, because any __ing modifier must be something that obtains in the same timeframe as the stuff to which it's attached.

vanishing is not simultaneous with appearing, so, nope.

[RonPurewal]

If it had been vanished instead of vanishing, would the statement have been correct? Below :

Five hundred million different species of living creatures have appeared on earth, nearly 99 percent of them (noun phrase) vanished (modifier).

Thank you very much

nope.

"__ed"-type modifiers correspond to passive verbs. i.e., using an "__ed" modifier is functionally equivalent to saying that something is/was ___ed.

e.g.,
The paintings were all gone, many of them stolen by thieves who would later resell them on the black market. --> many of the paintings were stolen.
("stolen" doesn't literally end with __ed, but it's the same type of modifier as what you're asking about.)

it's not possible to write that something "was vanished" (since it's likewise impossible to say that "i vanished something"), so this particular construction is incorrect in any context.

[uddipan.d]

you can't use a "comma + __ing" modifier, because the resulting meaning is nonsense.

remember, that type of modifier must meaningfully modify (= describe, explain, clarify, etc.) the action in the preceding part.

here, though, the preceding part is about the appearance of species, so, clearly, the "vanishing" part cannot modify it.

Hi RON

In Option A, vanishing is not preceded by comma so it should logically modify the immediate preceding noun, in this case "ninety 99 percent of them". So it does makes sense.

Can you please point out the flaw in my understanding ?

[RonPurewal]

in the original, "nearly 99 percent of them vanishing" is written as a modifier of the main sentence ("Five hundred million different species of living creatures have appeared on earth").

their vanishing describes their appearance? nope.

[aamirh27]

Ron. Could you elaborate when we can use the 'verb+ing ' form of modifier apart the example given above.