prep07 SC2 33题， 有人问过，但是没人给出答案， 再问一次

zcstc007

Likethegreatnavigators who first sailed around the Earth, to gather information about its size and curvature of its surface, new observations have been made by astronomers that show with startling  directness the large-scale geometry of the universe.
(A) Likethegreatnavigators who first sailed around the Earth, to gather information about its size and curvature of its surface, new observations have been made by astronomers
(B) Likethegreatnavigators who first sailed around the Earth for gathering information about its size and also the curvature of its surface, new observations have been made by astronomers
(C) Similar to thegreatnavigators who first sailed around the Earth, where they gathered information about its size and the curvature of its surface, astronomers have made new observations
(D) Likethegreatnavigators who first sailed around the Earth gathering information about its size and the curvature of its surface, astronomers have made new observations
(E) Just as with thegreatnavigators who first sailed around the Earth, gathering information about its size and curvature of the surface, astronomers have made new observations

我的问题是D选项的gathering修饰earth了吧，V-ing前面没有逗号直接紧邻名词应该是作为noun modifier修饰closest noun的吧？

DesmondWang

这种形式noun+noun modifier 1+ noun modifier 2:
当noun modifer和修饰的名词之间隔着另一个noun modifier时，noun modifier可以修饰较远的名词的，这里的gathering修饰navigators。基于两个原因：
1. who first sailed around the earth这个noun modifier没有别的地方可放，放在别的地方会引起更大的歧义，你不应该把navigators who。。。拆开来看，这是一个整体，who...是形容这是怎样的navigators，是特指。就像technology of killing bacteria,of killing bacteria是用来define technology的，如果没有这个of phrase， 这个technology本身是泛指。the same deal here!
2. gathering修饰earth根本不make sense。
你说的v-ing修饰closest noun是以下的情况：
The committee chose Mr. Smith in the last meeting, who was the most experienced member, to lead all the management-related operations.
这里的in the last meeting不是修饰mr. smith，而是修饰chose，是adverbial modifier，不满足我上面所说的noun+noun modifier1+noun modifier2。这时who有修饰meeting的歧义。

yakev6

莫要太机械，SVO ving多数情况下ving是修饰O的，但是也有少数情况ving是作为动词修饰语出现的，原则是句子清晰，不会引起歧义就可以。
这道题就是这样generating不可能修饰earth，其修饰的应该是sailed around the Earth。
同样的例子：
Scientists believe that unlike the males of most species of moth, the male whistling moths of Numbing, Australia, call female moths to them using acoustical signals, rather than olfactory ones, and attract their mates during the day, rather than at night.
这里using必然不能修饰them，只能做adverbial修饰句子。

yakev6

刚好有人问这题，贴在这了
国外instructor有两种解释Ron认为是作为non-comma ving的例外做adverbial的（我比较倾向这种理解）
e-GMAT认为是who作为更加critical的modifier出现在navigators 和gathering 中间
http://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/like-the-great-navigators-who-first-sailed-around-the-earth-t3618-15.html

RonPurewal

Post subject: Posted:Fri Oct 03, 2008 4:41 am

ManhattanGMAT Staff User Control Panel Website Posts:7770

H wrote: Hi, although my post was answered a month ago by a guest, I am still not convinced that "gathering..." can grammatically skip through the preceding noun. if this is an authentic gmatprep problem (which it should be, given its having been posted in this folder), then the answer to this quandary is simple: it's the official answer, so, "gathering" CAN, as you put it, "skip through the preceding noun."or, more likely, it's used as anadverbialmodifier, modifying the preceding CLAUSE. while you should of course be attuned to the vagaries of official gmat grammar, there's really no point in questioning practices that are deemed acceptable in official answers. if the gmat thinks that something is grammatically ok, then it's grammatically ok. it's their playground, they make the rules, and you're honestly wasting your study time by questioning those rules. (the gmat isn't a democracy.) you can't write "the gmat that is as hard as...", because that implies that there are other gmat's thataren'tas hard as the lsat. analogy: my brother, who lives in long beach, likes sushi-->i only have one brother,so the modifier is disposable and can be bracketed with commas my brother who lives in long beach likes sushi-->i have more than one brother,so i have to single out the one who lives in The Beach notice that this distinction is more subtle with people, because both essential and nonessential modifiers begin with 'who'. it's easier with objects, because you start essential modifiers with 'that' and nonessential modifiers with 'which'.

RonPurewal

Post subject:Re: Like the great navigators who first sailed around the Earth, Posted:Sat Dec 19, 2009 7:55 am

ManhattanGMAT Staff User Control Panel Website Posts:7770

tankobe wrote: OK! the official answers are always right. Ron! but there is still a question worthy thinking : wether thisgatheringis used asadvto modifysailed around the Earthor asadjto modifynavigators? according to the original sentence--to gather information about its size...,gatherseems like to function asadvto modifysailed around the Earth! ron or stracey, i really want to read your oppinion!! i think it is adverbial, yes.

http://gmatclub.com/forum/noun-modifiers-can-modify-slightly-far-away-noun-135868.html
3: Like thegreat navigatorswho first sailed around the Earthgatheringinformation about its size and the curvature of its surface, astronomers have made new observations that show with startling directness the large-scale geometry of the universe. (Choice D)

After reading this one, almost all of you will say that “gathering” is a verb-ing modifier that is placed after “Earth” and is not preceded by a comma. Hence, it must modify “Earth”. This modification makes no sense because Earth dis not gather information. The great navigators did. This sentence is incorrect. BUT IN REALITY, this sentence is absolutely correct. Here is why.

Structurally, “who first sailed around the Earth” is a clause. Here “who” stands for “the great navigators”. Now together “the great navigators who first sailed around the Earth” is a big noun phrase (refer to the mini article on noun phrases and Noun modifiers).

Many of you may argue that this entity contains a “who clause”. How can we classify as a noun phrase. We can classify this as a noun phrase since it has a noun at its head. It is of the construction – Noun + Clause.

The head of this big noun phrase is “the great investigators”. Now the “who” clause that modifies “the great investigators” cannot be placed anywhere else in the sentence. This gives “gathering”, a noun modifier, the liberty to jump over the preceding modifier and modify the head – “the great investigators”. Hence, “gathering” in this sentence is correctly modifying “the great investigators”.

Futhermore, logically “earth” cannot gather information.