Clarify a modifier for me?

Hi, there. I'm happy to give my 2¢ on this.

"Even more important is the proper use of power in the department."

The more I think about this sentence, the more I think: it's hard in practice to distinguish "power" from the "use of power." When something is concrete, like a hammer, it's easy to distinguish the hammer itself, the physical tool sitting there, from the use of the hammer, the activity. With power, in a way, the only time you "see" it is when it's used. That makes it hard even to delineate "power" from "the use of power." Ultimately, this becomes a question not about grammar but about philosophy, something beyond the expertise one needs for the GMAT.

I guess my question is --- why does this sentence matter? This is not particularly related to what the GMAT is going to ask about modifiers. The GMAT asks things more of the variety . . .

Last week, I saw Alice Walker at the Herbst Theater, winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

Obviously, "winner of the Pulitzer Prize" should modify "Alice Walker", so this sentence as it stands has a misplaced modifier. This would be typical wrong answer choice or incorrect prompt on GMAT SC.

The sentence . . . .

"Even more important is the proper use of power in the department."

. . . is grammatically correct, whether we consider "in the department" a modifier of "power" or "use of power." In the former case, it's just following the modifier "touch rule." In the later case, the phrase "of power" is a vital noun modifier ---- we would have no idea what kind of "use" we are talking about without the phrase "of power" ---- and one of the important exceptions to the modifier touch rule is that it's acceptable for a vital noun modifier to come between the noun and the phrase modifying the noun. So, regardless of which noun "in the department" modifies, the sentence as it stands is perfectly correct.

Does this make sense? Does this answer your question? Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Mike