VERB-ING MODIFIERS

Verb-ing modifiers are one of the most heavily tested concepts in GMAT, and needless to mention one
of the most dreaded concepts as well. The usage of this modifier often creates confusions because the
function of a verb-ing modifier changes with the change in its placement in a sentence. This article is
aimed at simplifying the usage of this dreaded modifier and helping you understand the functionality
of this modifier better.

!ut before that, we have a small warm up e"ercise. Attempt this short #ui$ and see how well you
understand this concept currently.

%. &tudents have been throwing away healthy meals made available in school cafeteria by The 'os
Angeles (nified &chool )istrict and bringing their own *un+ food to school and these forced the district
to bring bac+ some of the foods it wor+ed so hard to replace.

A. school and these forced
!. schools, which forced
,. schools, forcing

-. .n three months, biologist Glauco Machado gathered enough information about large numbers of a
relatively unstudied order of arachnids to persuade an ant specialist at the university to advise him and
to publish his first scientific paper.
A. arachnids to persuade an ant specialist at the university to advise him and to publish
!. arachnids, persuading an ant specialist at the university to advise him and publishing
,. arachnids persuading an ant specialist at the university to advise him and publishing
ANSWER KEY

%. ,.
-. A.
/)etailed solutions in sections 0('1 &1T 2% and 0('1 &1T 2- respectively3




UNDERSTANDING VERB-ING MODIFIERS


As the name suggests, verb-ing modifiers are the words that are constituted from verbs by
adding ing to them. Essentially, these modifiers modify a particular entity in the sentence. The
modification depends upon the placement of the modifier in the sentence, i.e. where and how
they appear in the sentence. Since these modifiers are made from verbs, they denote action.

For example:
Mary cooked delicious food, using fresh condiments.

In this sentence, the verb-ing modifier using fresh condiments denotes an action. It
communicates the meaning - Mary used fresh condiments.
PLACEMENT OF VERB-ING MODIFIERS


The function played by a verb-ing modifier depends upon where and how it appears in the
sentence. The verb-ing modifiers can take three places in a sentence:
1. Placed after a clause PRECEDED by a comma,
2. Placed after a clause NOT PRECEDED by a comma,
3. In the beginning of a clause followed by a comma.
Needless to say that the function of the verb-ing modifier changes with the change in its
placement in regards to the three structures mentioned above. Lets discuss the first structure that
brings us to our first rule set for this modifier.


The verb-ing modifier can be placed after a clause and separated from the preceding clause by a
comma.

SIMPLE EXAMPLES: Presenting Additional Information


Mary made a beautiful bouquet, arranging rare exotic flowers in certain symmetry.

This sentence means that Mary made a beautiful bouquet. And how did she do it? This question
is answered by the verb-ing modifier arranging rare exotic flowers in certain symmetry. i.e.
Mary made a beautiful bouquet BY ARRANGING rare exotic flowers in certain symmetry.

In this sentence, verb-ing modifier is preceded by a comma. This means that this modifier
modifies the preceding clause. In this sentence, the verb-ing modifier is presenting additional
information about the preceding clause.
GMAT like SENTENCE: Presenting Additional Information


For decades now, Illinois Natural History Survey biologists in aluminum skiffs have scooted up
and down the thinly wooded banks of the Illinois river and monitored local fish, catching,
recording, and releasing approximately 150,000 of them a year.

This sentence means that for a very long time now, the INHS biologists have gone to the banks
of the Illinois river in aluminum skiffs and have monitored local fish. And how they have
monitored local fish? They have done so by catching, recording, and releasing some 150,000 fish
a year.

In this sentence, all the three verb-ing modifiers (parallel entities) appear in the sentence after the
clause preceded by comma. Hence, they modify the entire preceding clause. Per the context of
this sentence, we know that the three verb-ing modifiers are presenting additional information
about the preceding clause. The three modifiers explain how the biologist did the job of
monitoring local fish. They monitored local fish by catching them, putting them in records, and
releasing them back in the river.
SIMPLE EXAMPLES: Presenting result


Mary made a beautiful bouquet, winning accolades from every one.

This sentence tells us that Mary made a beautiful bouquet. It further explains that this action
resulted in Mary winning a lot of accolades from every one.
In this sentence, the verb-ing modifier appears after the clause preceded by a comma. This means
the modifier will modify the entire preceding clause. In this sentence "winning accolades from
every one" is presenting the result of the preceding clause.


GMAT like SENTENCE: Presenting Result


Let us bring our warm-up exercise question #1 here. Let us solve that GMAT like question to
see why the correct answer is correct and how this rule set is applicable in that question.
Q#1 - WHY THE CORRECT ANSWER IS CORRECT


Students have been throwing away healthy meals made available in school cafeteria by The Los
Angeles Unified School District and bringing their own junk food to school and these forced the
district to bring back some of the foods it worked so hard to replace.

We will apply the e-gmat three-step process to solve this problem.

STEP 1: MEANING ANALYSIS

This sentence says that Los Angeles Unified School District added healthy meals to the school
cafeteria. But students have been throwing away these healthy meals and have been bringing
their own junk food. As a result of these actions, the district was forced to bring back some of the
foods it worked so hard to replace.

STEP 2: ERROR ANALYSIS

Lets now split the sentence into clauses to spot the errors:
Students have been throwing away healthy meals made available in school cafeteria by The Los
Angeles Unified School District and bringing their own junk food to school
and these forced the district to bring back some of the foods
o it worked so hard to replace.

In the second clause, pronoun these have been used to refer the actions of throwing healthy
meals and bringing junk food. This usage is not correct because these is a pronoun. It can
only refer to a noun or another pronoun. It cannot be used to refer to an action or a clause.

STEP 3: POE

A. school and these forced: Incorrect for the reason discussed during error analysis.

B. schools, which forced: Incorrect. Notice that which is a noun modifier that refers to the
preceding noun or noun phrase. In this choice, which is referring to schools. This is illogical.
Also notice that which is a relative pronoun that abides by the same rules for pronoun. Hence,
which cannot be used to present the result of the preceding clause.

C. Schools, forcing: Correct. The verb-ing modifier forcing appears in this sentence preceded
by a comma. This means that forcing is modifying the preceding clause. Per the context of the
sentence, comma + forcing, in this choice, is correctly presenting the result of the preceding
clause.



Applying RULE SET #1 on OG 12 #47

Five fledgling sea eagles left their nests in western Scotland this summer, bringing to 34 the
number of wild birds successfully raised since transplants from Norway began in 1975.

(A) bringing
(B) and brings
(C) and it brings
(D) and it brought
(E) and brought

We will solve this question, using e-gmat three-step process.

STEP 1: MEANING ANALYSIS
The sentence says that this summer, five fledgling sea eagles left their nests in western Scotland.
This action brought to 34 the total number of wild birds that have been successfully raised since
transplants from Norway started in 1975.
STEP 2: ERROR ANALYSIS

Let us split the sentence into clauses to spot the errors.
Five fledgling sea eagles left their nests in western Scotland this summer, bringing to 34 the
number of wild birds successfully raised
o since transplants from Norway began in 1975.

The only word underlined in this sentence is the verb-ing modifier bringing. This modifier
appears after the main clause preceded by a comma. This means it modifies the preceding clause.
The use of this modifier is correct here because per the context, it presents the result of the
preceding clause - one of the functions of the verb-ing when preceded by a comma. Hence, there
is no error in this sentence. This sentence is correct as is.


STEP 3: POE

Through this step we will find out why the other answer choices are incorrect.

(A) bringing: Correct as explained during error analysis.

(B) and brings: Incorrect. brings is not the correct verb tense to refer to an action that took
place in the past. Furthermore, use of comma + and to connect two entities in a list here two
verbs of the same subject - is not correct.

(C) and it brings: Incorrect.
i. Singular pronoun it neither can refer to plural eagles nor can refer to the preceding clause.
A pronoun can only refer to a noun or another pronoun.
ii. Repeats the same verb tense error as in Choice B.

(D) and it brought: Incorrect. Repeats the same pronoun error as in Choice D.

(E) and brought: Incorrect. Use of comma + and to connect two entities in a list here two
verbs of the same subject - is not correct.
A POINT TO REMEMBER


As mentioned earlier, verb-ing modifiers are made from verbs and they denote action. Now,
any action needs a doer. In the same way, the verb-ing modifiers also associate with the subjects
of the preceding clause. What we must keep in mind is that the action denoted by verb-ing must
make sense with the subject of the clause. The use of verb-ing is correct only if it makes sense
with the subject of the clause it is modifying.

For example:
Sachin Tendulkar played an exceptionally outstanding innings, making the team win
gloriously.

The sentence means that Sachin played a superbly good innings. And the result of this action led
to the victory of the team in a glorious manner. So, the verb-ing modifier making preceded by
a comma is presenting the result of the preceding clause.

Now, making is an action that needs a subject. Per the rule, it will associate with the subject of
the preceding clause. Now, the subject of the preceding clause Sachin did the action of playing
a superb innings. So the subject is the doer. Hence, making will associate with the same
subject and will suggest that that Sachin made the team win. This association perfectly makes
sense. Because Sachin did make the team win by playing a superb innings. Hence, the usage of
the verb-ing modifier is absolutely correct here.

Now lets take this example:
Joe became the CFO of the company, increasing his pay significantly.

Here the verb-ing modifier increasing appears after the clause and is preceded by a comma.
This means that this modifier will modify the preceding clause either by presenting additional
information about the preceding clause or by presenting the result of the preceding clause.
Now, per the intended meaning of the sentence, Joe became the CFO of the company. This event
led to increase in his salary. Now, the subject of the sentence is Joe. However, he is not the
doer of the verb became. He did not make himself the CFO of the company. Now look at the
verb-ing modifier increasing. Since verb-ing modifier denotes an action and hence associates
with a verb, increasing associates with Joe. The sentence thus means that Joe became the
CFO of the company and as a result he increased his salary. We know that this is not even a
possibility. What resulted in Joes increased salary is the event of his becoming the CFO.
Hence, even if this sentence appears to be written in appropriate construction, it is incorrect since
here the verb-ing modifier does not make sense with the subject of the preceding clause. This
sentence can be written correctly as follows:

Joe became the CFO of the company, a move that increased his pay significantly.


OG QUESTIONS YOU CAN PRACTICE USING THESE RULE
SETS


Apply these rule sets to the following OG questions. For more practice, register for free at e-
gmat.com and quizzes available in the trial concepts.
OG 12# 30, 65, 94
OG Verbal Review 2# 14, 78,
OG 13# 97



















VERB-ING MODIFIERS PART 2


In our first article on verb-ing modifiers, we discussed function of this modifier when used with
a comma. In this article we will explain the function of the verb-ing modifier when the modifier
is placed after the clause and is NOT preceded by a comma. To refresh your memory, in a
sentence there are three general places where this modifier appears. In each placement, the
modifier plays a specific role. These places are:
1. Placed after a clause PRECEDED by a comma (explained in the first article)
2. Placed after a clause NOT PRECEDED by a comma (explained in this article)
3. In the beginning of a clause followed by a comma (Please view the Verb-ing concept in the e-
GMAT free trial)
RULE SET #2

The placement of the verb-ing modifier after a clause without a comma brings us to the second
rule set for this modifier.
Lets understand the application of this rule set through simple examples first.


SIMPLE EXAMPLE

Mary made a beautiful bouquet releasing divine aroma.

In this sentence releasing is a verb-ing modifier that is not preceded by a comma. In this
construction, releasing modifies the preceding noun bouquet. The sentence means that
Mary made a beautiful bouquet and that bouquet releases a divine aroma. So the modifier
describes the noun "bouquet".
Understanding Intended meaning is the key: As you would have noticed, the key to deciding
whether to use a verb-ing modifier, and if to use one, whether to use one with a comma depends
on the intended meaning of the sentence. If the logical intended meaning is such that the verb-ing
modifier should modify the preceding noun or noun phrase, then we should use the verb-ing
modifier without a comma. On the other hand, use the verb-ing modifier with the comma if the
authors intention is to express additional information about the preceding clause or the result of
the preceding clause. Either way, to make this distinction its important to understand the logical
intended meaning.
OFFICIAL EXAMPLE


Lets now take an official example and apply the tools that we have learned so far. Note that in
this example we will only analyze the sentence with regards to the verb-ing modifier. The
sentence construction for choices A and B is same as it pertains to the usage of verb-ing
modifier.

OG 12#133 Choice B

Last week local shrimpers held a news conference to take some credit for the resurgence of the
rare Kemp's ridley turtle, saying that their compliance with laws requiring turtle-excluder devices
on shrimp nets is protecting adult sea turtles.

To decide whether the usage of verb-ing modifier make sense, lets understand the authors
Intended Meaning.

Intended meaning:
To understand the intended meaning, we will split the sentence into clauses to understand its
structure. Take the Sentence Structure concepts in the free trial if you have trouble in splitting
the sentence into clauses and phrases. Lets continue.
Last week local shrimpers held a news conference to take some credit for the resurgence of the
rare Kemp's ridley turtle, saying
that their compliance with laws requiring turtle-excluder devices on shrimp nets is protecting
adult sea turtles.

This sentence says that last week local shrimpers called for a news conference. They did so to
take come credit for the resurgence of the rare Kemps ridley turtle. They informed in the
conference that they comply with laws that require turtle-excluder devices on shrimp nets. This
action is protecting adult sea turtles.

The verb-ing modifier requiring is not preceded by a comma and hence correctly modifies the
preceding noun laws. The meaning is clear - these laws require the shrimpers to use turtle-
excluder devices on shrimp nets. Therefore, the sentence is correct as it is.




AN INSTANCE IN WHICH VERB-ING IS NOT CORRECT


We will now take an example in which Verb-ing is not correct. This example is from the exercise
of the previous article.

In three months, biologist Glauco Machado gathered enough information about large numbers of
a relatively unstudied order of arachnids to persuade an ant specialist at the university to advise
him and to publish his first scientific paper.

A. arachnids to persuade an ant specialist at the university to advise him and to publish
B. arachnids, persuading an ant specialist at the university to advise him and publishing
C. arachnids persuading an ant specialist at the university to advise him and publishing

Lets use the tools to determine whether verb-ing modifier makes sense.

STEP 1: (Intended) MEANING ANALYSIS

The sentence says that in three months Machado gathered enough information about a huge
number of comparatively unstudied order of arachnids. He gathered all information with two
purposes in mind:

a. he wanted to persuade an ant specialist at the university to advise him
b. he wanted to publish his first scientific paper

STEP 2: ERROR ANALYSIS

In three months, biologist Glauco Machado gathered enough information about large numbers
of a relatively unstudied order of arachnids to persuade an ant specialist at the university to
advise him and to publish his first scientific paper.

This sentence has just one subject-verb pair, meaning it has only one clause. The SV pair is
accounted for. The purposes of gathering all the information have been correctly written in to
verb form. These two purposes are also correctly joined with and. Hence, there is no error in
this sentence. The sentence is correct as is.

STEP 3: POE

Let us now do the POE to see what makes the other two choices incorrect.

A. arachnids to persuade an ant specialist at the university to advise him and to publish: Correct
as we discussed during error analysis.

B. arachnids, persuading an ant specialist at the university to advise him and publishing:
Incorrect. Here both the verb-ing modifiers are preceded by comma, implying that they modify
the entire preceding clause. Hence, now the sentence means that Machado gathered all the
information and this action resulted into two things:
a. he persuaded the ant specialist, and
b. he published his first scientific papers.
This is certainly not the intended meaning of the original sentence. The original sentence talks
about purpose. Per this choice, Machados gathering information actually led to the persuasion of
the ant specialist and the publication of the first scientific paper. Hence, this choice is
grammatically correct but certainly alters the intended meaning and is thus incorrect.

C. arachnids persuading an ant specialist at the university to advise him and publishing:
Incorrect. In this choice, the verb-ing modifiers appear without comma. Here, both persuading
and publishing modify the preceding noun arachnids. Now, per this choice, the sentence
means that Machado collected information on certain arachnids and these arachnids did the jobs
of persuading the ant specialist and publishing first scientific paper. This is absolutely illogical.
This is a case where verb-ing modifier without a comma does not make sense.

APPLYING THE RULE SET TO GMATPREP QUESTION

Ok, so now that we understand how to use the new tools that we have learnt, lets add them to our
arsenal and use the e-GMAT 3 step process to solve a GMAT PREP question.

GMAT Prep Question:

In the past several years, astronomers have detected more than 80 massive planets, most of them
as large or larger than Jupiter, which circle other stars.
A. most of them as large or larger than Jupiter, which circle
B. most of them as large or larger than Jupiter and circling
C. most of them at least as large as Jupiter, circling
D. mostly at least as large as Jupiter, which circle
E. mostly as large or larger than Jupiter, circling

Let us now apply the e-gmat three-step process to solve this one. We will begin with the first
step that is:

MEANING ANALYSIS:
The sentence says that in the past few years, astronomers have detected more than 45 massive planets.
These massive planets are either as large as 6upiter or larger than 6upiter. These massive planets also
circle other stars.



ERROR ANALYSIS:

7 .n the past several years, astronomers have detected more than 45 massive planets, most of them as
large or larger than 6upiter,
7 which circle other stars.

This sentence uses a mi" of two idioms 8 as 9 as and 9 larger than 8 in the form of as large or larger
than. This is incorrect. :e must use the idiom correctly in its entirety to present the correct
comparison.
;otice the modifier 8 which circle<. This relative pronoun modifier modifies the noun 45 massive
planets. &ome of you may wonder that which circle< modifies the closest noun 6upiter. This is not
correct. And this is where logical meaning and understanding the sentence structure comes to our aid.

;otice that most of them as large or larger than 6upiter is a modifier that provides additional
information about the 45 massive planets. This modifier is encapsulated in a comma pair. &o even if we
remove this modifier from the sentence, the meaning will not be altered. &o for the sa+e of our
discussion, let=s remove this modifier>
7 .n the past several years, astronomers have detected more than 45 massive planets, most of them as
large or larger than 6upiter,which circle other stars.

;ow as you can see, which circle< modifies the noun phrase 45 massive planets. ;ow this modifier
is not written in correct construction since which is typically preceded by a comma. 0emember that the
comma that precedes which does not separate which but is part of the comma pair that separates
the modifier ?most of them<? from the rest of the sentence.
:e will now find the correct choice from the remaining @ choices.

POE:

A. most of them as large or larger than 6upiter, which circle> .ncorrect for reasons discussed above.

!. most of them as large or larger than 6upiter and circling> .ncorrect.
i. This choice repeats the idiom and parallelism errors of choice A.
ii. A modifier is not separated from the entity it modifies by using and.

,. most of them at least as large as 6upiter, circling> ,orrect. This choice corrects the error of choice A by
using the correct idiom at least as large as 6upiter to convey the intended meaning.
Aurthermore, notice the use of modifier - circling< . This modifier modifies the noun entity that
precedes it 8 more than 45 massive planets. As we discussed in the sentence structure discussion for
choice A, this modifier does not modify the immediately preceding noun ?6upiter?. This is a verb-ing
modifier that is not separated from the preceding clause by a comma and hence modifies the preceding
noun entity.
At this time we should also pay attention to the logical meaning of the sentence. :e have determined
already that circling< modifies 45 massive planets from grammatical standpoint. Arom logical
standpoint also, circling must modify 45 massive planets because it is a universal fact that 6upiter
revolves around the &un and no other star. Bence, there is no logical way that circling can modify
6upiter. .t should modify 45 massive planets.

). mostly at least as large as 6upiter, which circle> .ncorrect. (se of mostly is incorrect here. ;ow it is
an adverb that refers to the ad*ective following it at least as large as. This is non-sensical.

1. mostly as large or larger than 6upiter, circling> .ncorrect.
i. 0epeats the same mostly error of choice ).
ii. 0epeats the idiom error of choice A.