By the time philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein met Bertrand Russell in 1912, afflicted by what seems to have been an inherited propensity towards emotional instability and having been shaken greatly by the loss of two brothers, the former would be living with depression for almost a decade.

afflicted by what seems to have been an inherited propensity towards emotional instability and having been shaken greatly by the loss of two brothers, the former would be living with depression for almost a decade.

the former would have been living with depression for almost a decade, having been afflicted by what seems to have been an inherited propensity to emotional instability and having been shaken by the loss of two of his brothers

the former had lived with depression for almost a decade, had been afflicted by what seems to have been an inherited propensity to emotional instability and had been greatly shaken with the loss of two of his brothers

the former had lived with depression for almost a decade, afflicted by what seems to have been an inherited propensity towards emotional instability and greatly shaken by the loss of two of his brothers

the former, afflicted by what seems to have been an inherited propensity towards emotional instability, greatly shaken by the loss of two of his brothers, lived with depression for almost a decade




As per the article above, comma + verb+ed should modify the preceding noun/noun phrase. Here, in the correct option, it is not so. Shraddha, can you please help me with it.
Thanks!

Shraddha, thanks very much for all your explanations.

I have a question about exception to the rule above. I ran into this GmatPrep answer choice yesterday:

10. The yield per acre of coffee berries varies enormously in that a single tree, depending on both its size and on climate and altitude, could produce enough berries to make between one and twelve pounds of dried beans a year.
A. enormously in that a single tree, depending on both its size and on climate and altitude, could produce
B. enormously in that a single tree, dependent on its size and also on climate and altitude, is able to produce
C. enormously, because a single tree, depending on its size and on climate and altitude, is able to produce
D. enormously, because a single tree, being dependent on its size, climate, and altitude, is capable of producing
E. enormously, because a single tree, dependent both on its size as well as on climate and altitude, could produce

The correct answer is C:
"The yield per acre of coffee berries varies enormously, because a single tree, depending on its size and on climate and altitude, is able to produce enough berries to make between one and twelve pounds of dried beans a year."

My understanding is that "depending on its size and on climate and altitude" modifies the following "is able to produce" and not the preceding clause or noun. When working on this problem, I decided that "depending on" modifies the preceding "single tree" according to Gmat rules, the conclusion that seems to be totally wrong.

Hi alexcey and debayan,

Sorry for getting back a little late on this. Let’s study the sentence with the correct answer choice C:

The yield per acre of coffee berries varies enormously, because a single tree, depending on its size and on climate and altitude, is able to produce enough berries to make between one and twelve pounds of dried beans a year.

In this sentence “comma + depending…” modifies the clause “a single tree is able to produce…”. So it essentially modifies the action in the clause. In the article above, the Takeaway defines various ways of placing the verb-ing modifiers that modify the entire clause or the action in the clause.

1. Ria crossed the bridge, riding on her bicycle.
2. Riding on her bicycle, Ria crossed the bridge.
3. Ria, riding on her bicycle, crossed the bridge. – This construction is correct as used in the correct answer choice of the official question. So here we go. We learnt a new way of writing verb-ing modifier that modifies the action of the clause or in other words, modifies the clause. In all the three sentences, “riding…” modifies how Ria crossed the bridge – the action of the clause.

Similarly, “depending…” modifies a single tree is able to produce – the action of the clause.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

Hi debayan,

Yes, your understanding of meaning is absolutely correct. You have explained it pretty well. However, the use of like in you sentence is incorrect.
Never mind. Your exaplanation is correct.

Thanks.
Shraddha