GWD21-Q41，未定论的题目

泾渭不凡

C没有任何的模糊的意思。A并不是语法prefer的用法，如下。

从网上查到的，解释了A为什么没有C好：

Participial phrases are short phrases that appear at the beginning of a sentence or the end of the sentence. These participial phrases should always be set off from the main clause with a comma. The action that is occurring in these participial phrasesshould relate back to the subject.（并不是must，所以有了歧义的根源） That is, the subject of the sentence should be doing the action. If this is not the case, the result is a dangling modifier.

Incorrect: A large twig floated over and jabbed him, swimming against the tide.

Here swimming against the tide is not something that the twig is doing. Twigs don't swim. They float. However, it appears as if swimming against the tide is modifying him (the final pronoun in the main clause). While some grammarians might not find anything objectionable about this practice, generally speaking, participial phrases (both at the end of and in front of the main clause) should refer back to the subject.（并不一定是错误的，但确实不清不楚！）


When a participial phrase is attached to the end of a sentence and it is modifying the last word of the sentence (a noun), it may be acting like a reduced relative clause as well. In this case, refer to the rules for restrictive and non-restrictive clauses for punctuation. （用restrictive or non-restrictive clause解决了这个问题！）

Example: Harold invented his own god, laughing maniacally at the sight of a face in a cloud.

The question here is who is laughing maniacally. Punctuated as it is now, laughing maniacally at the sight of a face in a cloud is a participial phrase that modifies Harold. However, it could be seen as a reduced relative clause that is modifying god. This relative clause is restrictive because laughing maniacally would specify what kind of god Harold had invented. Therefore, use no comma.

Correct: Harold invented his own god, who was laughing maniacally at the sight of a face in a cloud.

-- by 会员 BeBrave2011 (2010/10/19 12:17:25)

C

Ron: choice (a) uses a COMMA + -ING modifier -- a very common construction -- and uses it incorrectly.

the short version:
COMMA + -ING modifiers modify the ENTIRE PRECEDING CLAUSE (including the subject of that clause).

the long version:
see here
post30766.html#p30766

...so, according to this COMMA + ING modifier, it is actually "The Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal" that is "saying that the move will exacerbate the nation’s fuel supply problems", while (or because of) sparking a counterattack by the oil industry.

that doesn't make sense.

--

re: (c)

actually, "which" should indeed refer to the oil industry, because the oil industry is saying that the proposal will exacerbate the nation's fuel supply problems.
this is a response to the proposal, not the content of the proposal itself.

so, "which" is used totally correctly here.

泾渭不凡