and连接/ comma ving 疑问 求解答！！

joii

Starfish, with anywhere from five to eight arms, have a strong regenerative ability, and if one arm is lost it quickly replaces it, sometimes by the animal overcompensating and growing an extra one or two.

• A one arm is lost it quickly replaces it, sometimes by the animal overcompensating and
• B one arm is lost it is quickly replaced, with the animal sometimes overcompensating and
• C they lose one arm they quickly replace it, sometimes by the animal overcompensating,
• D they lose one arm they are quickly replaced, with the animal sometimes overcompensating,
• E they lose one arm it is quickly replaced, sometimes with the animal overcompensating,
  

这题B和E选项有疑问，B项是“with the animal sometimes overcompensating and growing...”，E项则是“sometimes with the animak overcompensating, growing”
RON强调过很多遍“and”连接独立的内容，所以B项的overcompensating和growing是独立的？总感觉是先overcompensating再有growing
还有，E项的“, growing”有错误吗？能修饰“with the animal overcompensating”吗










help help

kluivert

我要能像你这样就好了！我一般选对了就走了，就算蒙的都不管

我看了大神们的回复，Mike回答应该可以帮到你

I realize this is an official question, but I would call this problem one of GMAC's clunkers. It has a clear answer, but it falls short of the standards that the GMAT normally has on SC. In particular, the "with" + [noun] + [participial phrase] structure, as a substitute for a clause, is often something GMAC has considered wrong in other, better written questions, but here it is simply unavoidable. To umeshpatil, I would say: in the active voice, neither "with" nor "by" is ideal; for a new action, ideally we should have a whole new clause.

First of all, the first part is more elegant in (B):
(B) one arm is lost it is quickly replaced = concise and elegant
(E) they lose one arm it is quickly replaced = awkward
The former focuses exclusively on one subject, "one arm;" it has rhetorical focus. The latter jumps back and forth between two subjects --- the "starfish" and the "one arm." If (E) were entirely active, "if they lose one arm, they replace it," then there would be a consistent subject and consistent active voice. As it stands, (E) juxtaposes two subjects and also juxtaposes active vs. passive voice, all in a tiny clause. It's very awkward.

One crucial split in this sentence is the placement of the word "sometimes" --- exactly what should this word modify? We are already talking about the event in which the starfish loses an arm. Obviously, if the arm is replace, the animal is always the one who replaces it. The "sometimes" refers to the events in which multiple arms replace a single arm --- that sometimes happens. The placement in (E),
(E) ... sometimes with the animal overcompensating ...
suggests that sometimes the animal's action replaces the arm, and sometimes is something other than the animal replacing the arm. That's nonsensical. By contrast, (B) has:
(B) ... with the animal sometimes overcompensating and ...
Yes. It's the overcompensating that happens only sometimes, but it is always the action of the animal.

Finally, for the split at the end: this is one respect in which (B) is not ideal. I think it is awkward to put those two participles in parallel, "overcompensating and growing ..." Really, those are not two separate actions. Instead, the latter is an explanation of the former: what do we mean that starfish "overcompensates"? We mean that the starfish sometimes grows extra arms. It is an explanation of the same action, not a new action. Therefore, I think putting the two participles in parallel is less than ideal. It would be much better to give them the relationship that (E) has: "overcompensating, [that is to say] growing ..."

So (B) is the best answer, but it is not ideal. In fact, the entire question is not ideal, and it's no surprise that the GMAT got rid of it in its current material.

joii

kluivert 发表于 2018-9-30 12:18
我要能像你这样就好了！我一般选对了就走了，就算蒙的都不管

我看了大神们的回复，Mike回 ...

谢谢回复！还有个疑问：E项 comma ving可以修饰独立主格吗

joii

刚刚在beatthegmat网上看的MITCH的解释，看起来挺有道理
Generally, COMMA + VERBing serves to modify the preceding clause -- more specifically, the SUBJECT and VERB of the preceding clause.
C and E: the animal overcompensating, growing an extra one or two.
Here, overcompensating is an ADJECTIVE serving to modify animal.
What KIND Of animal?
The animal OVERCOMPENSATING.
As a result, the animal overcompensating is not a clause but a PHRASE.
The COMMA + VERBing modifier in red cannot serve to modify a phrase.

OA: with the animal sometimes overcompensating and growing an extra one or two
Here, the purpose of and is to avoid the error discussed directly above.

kluivert

joii 发表于 2018-9-30 12:49
刚刚在beatthegmat网上看的MITCH的解释，看起来挺有道理
Generally, COMMA + VERBing serves to modify the ...

谢谢！我从来都是一知半解

joii

看到上面的解释又有疑问了，他说 “the animal overcompensating is not a clause but a PHRASE” 所以comma ving无法修饰。下面是一道OG题
To map Earth's interior, geologists use a network of seismometers to chart seismic waves that originate in the earth's crust and ricochet around its interior, most rapidly traveling through cold, dense regions and slower through hotter rocks.
A interior, most rapidly traveling through cold, dense regions and slower  
B interior, which travel most rapidly through cold, dense regions, and more slowly  
C interior, traveling most rapidly through cold, dense regions and more slowly  
D interior and most rapidly travel through cold, dense regions, and slower  
E interior and that travel most rapidly through cold, dense regions and slower

这题答案是C，“traveling...”修饰的是“seismic waves that originate…”这个从句，这题如果按他所说的，“seismic waves that originate…”也算是个Phrase吧，seismic waves加modifier

晕晕

joii

joii 发表于 2018-9-30 13:22
看到上面的解释又有疑问了，他说 “the animal overcompensating is not a clause but a PHRASE” 所以comm ...

又找到一个例子
Visitors to the park have often looked into the leafy canopy and seen monkeys sleeping on the branches, with arms and legs hanging like socks on a clothesline.
这题RON说过“with...”修饰“moneys sleeping on the branches”，comma with结构是adv modifier，comma ving也是adv modifier，所以前面的可行？

可聪明了

E 选项：
they lose one arm it is quickly replaced, sometimes with the animal overcompensating, growing an extra one or two.
从逻辑上讲，growing an extra one or two只能修饰 the animal， 但comma ing 之前是要有一个完成句子（主谓结构）的，所以回答楼主的问题：，growing an extra one or two不能修饰the animal


而且，既然overcompensating和growing都修饰the animal，而且overcompensating和growing实际上就是同一种行为的形而上和实质化表达，所以没有先后关系，只能用and连接了。

清酉湘竹2018

可聪明了 发表于 2018-10-1 14:04
E 选项：
they lose one arm it is quickly replaced, sometimes with the animal overcompensating, growi ...

有一定道理，谢谢！