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505-555 Level|   Meaning/Logical Predication|   Modifiers|                              
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Hey

I have seen through my experience with GMAT SC that verbing modifiers (if modifying a clause) usually modify How, why and cause-effect part of it. But in this question nothing of that is visible, is my observation incorrect? and is there anything which I am not seeing?

Gagan
When you see FULL CLAUSE + COMMA + -ing, the "-ing" modifier will typically function in one of two ways. It can either 1) give a consequence of the preceding action or 2) provide context for that action.

Take another look at (A):

Quote:
A mutual fund having billions of dollars in assets will typically invest that money in hundreds of companies, rarely holding more than one percent of the shares of any particular corporation.
In the initial clause, we're told that a mutual fund often invests in hundreds of companies. The "-ing" modifier in red offers context for this investment, informing us that the money invested in these companies is spread out, rather than concentrated in one place. Seems perfectly logical. Because the -ing modifier provides context to the previous action in a reasonable way, its usage is fine, and I'd move on to evaluate other aspects of the sentence.

I hope that clears things up!
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here "rarely holding" modifies the action of "investing money" right?
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waseem31
here "rarely holding" modifies the action of "investing money" right?

Hello waseem31,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, here, "will typically invest that money" is the main action, and "rarely holding" is a subordinate action that modifies it to provide additional information.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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waseem31
here "rarely holding" modifies the action of "investing money" right?

A present participle modifier (-ing modifier) is technically a verb modifier, but in addition, it requires a noun as the subject of the modified verb to refer to in order to make sense.

Here the present participle modifier "...holding..." technically modifies the main verb of the sentence "will invest", but it is also important that the verb "will invest" has a proper subject, in this case "A mutual fund", that the modifier "...holding..." refers to. Who is holding? A mutual fund. Without the proper subject reference, the sentence would have been wrong. For example,

Money will be invested in many companies, rarely holding more than one percent of shares. WRONG - Although the modifier "...holding..." correctly refers to the verb "will be invested", the sentence is wrong, because there is no proper subject that the modifier "..holding.." can refer to. Who is holding? No answer - hence wrong.

A mutual fund will invest money in many companies, rarely holding more than one percent of shares. CORRECT.
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Hey, I pretty much understand the question, however, I have a specific question, what rarely is modifying here? Can adverbs modify verb-ing in a sentence?
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Hey, I pretty much understand the question, however, I have a specific question, what rarely is modifying here? Can adverbs modify verb-ing in a sentence?
"Rarely" modifies "holding," and yes, an adverb can modify a present participle.
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(A) companies, rarely holding more than one percent

The clause 'rarely holding...' correctly modifies the subject 'mutual fund.' It uses a participle to convey a cause-effect meaning and avoids pronouns.

(B) companies, and it is rare to hold at least one percent or more

what does it refer to? eliminate

(C) companies and rarely do they hold more than one percent

what does they refer to? eliminate

(D) companies, so that they rarely hold more than one percent

what does they refer to? eliminate

(E) companies; rarely do they hold one percent or more

what does they refer to? eliminate
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A mutual fund having billions of dollars in assets will typically invest that money in hundreds of companies, rarely holding more than one percent of the shares of any particular corporation.

(A) companies, rarely holding more than one percent

The clause 'rarely holding...' correctly modifies the subjet 'mutual fund.'

(B) companies, and it is rare to hold at least one percent or more

Here the 'it' is vague and unnecessary.

(C) companies and rarely do they hold more than one percent

Who is the 'they'? If we are referring to the companies than doing so is misleading. The original sentence makes it clear the mutual fund is doing the holding.

(D) companies, so that they rarely hold more than one percent

Same as (C).

(E) companies; rarely do they hold one percent or more

Once again, the misleading 'they.'


Sir Can you explain Option A little bit more. Thanks!

Hi,

Choice A correctly uses the comma + verb- ing modifier to modify the preceding clause. The comma + verb –ing modifier presents either additional information about the preceding clause or the result of that clause. Here it presents the result of the preceding clause. So, essentially it means that the author is trying to say that because a mutual fund with a lot of money generally invests in a number of companies, it rarely holds more than one percent of the shares of any particular company.

Now typically, the information given in the comma+ verb –ing modifier should make sense with the subject of the modified clause. Let’s check the same here:

A mutual fund (with a particular feature) rarely holds more than one percent of the shares of any particular corporation.

As you can see, the information given in the modifier (holding…corporation) does make sense with the subject of the modified clause (a mutual fund).

To understand the concept and various uses of comma + verb –ing modifier more, please refer to our in depth article on the subject here :

https://e-gmat.com/blogs/?p=3465

Hope the above discussion helps! :)

Regards,
Neeti.

Hi,
On the same topic of verbing modifier can you explain why this sentence would be incorrect?

"I typically invest in one company per year instead of multiple companies, holding 50% of my assets in cash "
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StringArgs

Hi,
On the same topic of verbing modifier can you explain why this sentence would be incorrect?

"I typically invest in one company per year instead of multiple companies, holding 50% of my assets in cash "

Hello StringArgs,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the problem with this sentence is that there is no logical connection between the actions of "investing in only one company" and "holding 50% of my assets in cash"; the "comma + present participle ("verb+ing" - "holding" in this sentence)" construction is meant to provide additional information about the action of the preceding clause or to convey a cause-effect relationship.

Thus, while this sentence may not be entirely incorrect, it is poorly constructed.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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KarishmaB

(E) companies; rarely do they hold one percent or more

Can you please explain the sentence structure of "rarely do they hold one percent or more"?
Can I consider it an independent clause?

Thank you for your help :)
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Sneha2021
KarishmaB

(E) companies; rarely do they hold one percent or more

Can you please explain the sentence structure of "rarely do they hold one percent or more"?
Can I consider it an independent clause?

Thank you for your help :)

This is inversion of subject and verb.
This inversion of subject and verb happens commonly when we use negative adverbs such as never, seldom, barely, scarcely, hardly etc. in the beginning for emphasis.

Examples:
Never have I ever walked on my hands. (I have never walked on my hands)
Hardly had I woken up when my child started crying.

'rarely do they hold one percent or more of the shares...' means 'they rarely hold one percent or more of the shares'.

I have discussed this in my sentence correction book (for EA) too here: https://anaprep.com
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