{"id":13828,"date":"2017-06-01T16:39:33","date_gmt":"2017-06-01T16:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/?p=13828"},"modified":"2019-09-05T15:53:55","modified_gmt":"2019-09-05T15:53:55","slug":"gmat-sentence-correction-modifiers-and-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/blog\/gmat-sentence-correction-modifiers-and-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"GMAT Sentence Correction: Modifiers and Meaning"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Manhattan<\/p>\n

Guess what? You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free\u2014we\u2019re not kidding! <\/i><\/b>Check out our upcoming courses here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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<\/i><\/b>Meaning. Important in life, important in GMAT Sentence Correction questions. <\/span><\/p>\n

I realized recently just how much the GMAT loves switching between verbs and modifiers derived from verbs (we nerds know these as \u2018participles\u2019) in SC. For example:<\/span><\/p>\n

The boy, running down the street so that he could meet his mother in time for dinner.
\n<\/span><\/i>The boy ran down the street so that he could meet his mother in time for dinner. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

You probably knew the first sentence was incorrect immediately, but the GMAT actually has that same terrible non-sentence as wrong answer choices all the time; they just hide it better. It\u2019s called a \u2018sentence fragment,\u2019 precisely because it is not a sentence. It lacks an actual verb. The \u2018\u2014ing\u2019 structure (the \u2018present participle\u2019) is actually a form of a modifier, a word or phrase that describes something else in the sentence. GMAT Sentence Correction makes its sentence fragments harder to spot, adding all kinds of other modifying phrases so that you lose track of the fact that, hey, there\u2019s a not a single verb here. <\/span><\/p>\n

Whenever you see verbs and modifiers-that-look-like-verbs switching places in the answer choices, you should check for Big Structure Issues in your splits. Make sure you don’t have sentence fragments (no sentence), run-on sentences (two full sentences not joined together correctly), or other bad structures at the core of your sentence. Note that while \u2018\u2014ing\u2019 modifiers are easier to spot, other modifiers <\/span>really<\/span><\/i> look like verbs. \u2018Kicked,\u2019 for example, could be the past tense or the past participle of \u2018to kick.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe soccer player fell to the ground, kicked in the face by his opponent.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Here, \u2018kicked\u2019 is a modifier. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHis opponent accidentally kicked him in the face, and he fell to the ground.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Here, \u2018kicked\u2019 is a verb. <\/span><\/p>\n

Point being, look carefully to see how a word is used in a sentence. The sentence will need different structures, depending on whether a word is verb or a modifier. <\/span><\/p>\n

But what I <\/span>really<\/span><\/i> want to talk about today is a more difficult and subtle way that GMAT Sentence Correction requires you to understand the difference between verbs and modifiers. To introduce the concept, I present to you two sentences:<\/span><\/p>\n

1)<\/span><\/i> He carries the trunk up the stairs, sweating the whole way up.
\n<\/span><\/i>2) He carries the trunk up the stairs and sweats the whole way up.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Believe it or not, the GMAT prefers one of these sentences over the other. Why? There\u2019s no grammatical issue here\u2014both of these sentences are 100% correct when it comes to grammar and structure. The issue here is an issue with meaning.<\/span><\/p>\n

How so? One thing to note about \u2018\u2014ing\u2019 modifiers: when they come after a comma, they modify <\/span>an entire subject\/verb clause. <\/span><\/i>So in sentence 1, \u2018sweating the whole way up,\u2019 modifies the subject-verb clause, \u2018He carries the trunk.\u2019 This is nice, actually\u2014it inherently links the sweating to the carrying. Sentence 2, on the other hand, isn\u2019t quite so nice. We\u2019re told he carries and sweats, but we lose the explicit connection between the two. Why does he sweat? Is it because he is carrying the trunk? Or is it hot? Or is he just a guy who sweats a lot? I mean, sure, <\/span>we<\/span><\/i> know why, but the GMAT prefers that the grammar <\/span>also<\/span><\/i> knows why. So it would choose sentence 1 here. <\/span><\/p>\n

With this understanding, take a look at these two sentences and see if you can figure out which one the GMAT would prefer: <\/span><\/p>\n

1) He fell asleep on the airplane, annoying the other passengers with his snoring.
\n<\/span><\/i>2) He fell asleep on the airplane and annoyed the other passengers with his snoring. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cWell you just told me they prefer the \u2014ing modifier to grammatically link the actions, so 1 again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hold up.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGod I hate you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n