-ing form without a comma

[ramesh.kanamatareddy]

Hi I would like to understand the difference between the below forms.

Main clause ending with a noun + comma + -ing form
Crime has recently decreased in our neighborhood, leading to a rise in property values.

Main clause ending with a noun +No comma + -ing form
Crime has recently decreased in our neighborhood, leading to a rise in property values.


Also,

Main clause ending with a noun +No comma + -ing form
Police have contained crime in our neighborhood using latest technology.

Main clause ending with a noun +No comma + by + -ing form
Police have contained crime in our neighborhood by using latest technology.

[jnelson0612]

[quote="ramesh.kanamatareddy"]Hi I would like to understand the difference between the below forms.

Main clause ending with a noun + comma + -ing form
Crime has recently decreased in our neighborhood, leading to a rise in property values.

Also,

Main clause ending with a noun +No comma + -ing form
Police have contained crime in our neighborhood using latest technology.

The first sentence would actually not be okay. To quote Ron, to use the comma + VERB-ing modifier:
1)the modifier should modify the action of the preceding clause;
AND
2) the subject of the preceding clause should also make sense as the agent of the -ING action.

In this case, "crime" cannot be the agent that is raising the property values, so #2 is violated.

The second sentence seems to have a misplaced modifier. When I have an "-ing" form without the comma, the phrase starting with the "-ing" word is modifying the noun directly before it. Right now "the neighborhood" is being modified by "using (the) latest technology". The correct sentence would be:
Using the latest technology, the police have contained crime in our neighborhood.

[FaysalT485]

Hi Instructors,

I came across this question in a MGMAT CAT

Many of today’s mathematicians use computers to test cases that are either too time-consuming or involve too many variables to test manually, allowing the exploration of theoretical issues that were impossible to test a generation ago.

Correct answer:
would either take too much time or involve too many variables to test manually, allowing them to explore

In the correct answer, "allowing" is modifying the previous clause "cases that would either take too much time or involve too many variables to test manually", so the subject of this clause is "cases". Hence, since "verb+ing" must make sense with the subject of the previous clause, "allowing" must make sense with "cases". But its not the "cases" who are "allowing", the use of computers by mathematicians should be the subject of "allowing".

Please help.

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Please take care to post in the right forum: this is really a discussion of a MPrep CAT problem and it has its own thread.

I know that Ron favored that rule about the subject of the clause needing to be possible as the subject of the 'comma VERB-ing' modifier, but I disagree with that characterization. Or, at least, I think that it's not always the case, as in this example. In my courses I explain 'comma VERB-ing' modifiers as giving extra information about the previous clause, often showing a result of that action. Here, it's the fact that mathematicians are using computers that allows the exploration of such theoretical issues.

If you want to continue this discussion, please post in the Manhattan Prep CAT verbal folder.