Hey! Thank you for reaching out.
Let’s first tackle the concept that you mentioned.
As you rightly mentioned, the verb-ing modifier modifies the entire clause before it. Taking this one step further, when this modification happens, the modifier does either one of two things:
a) The -ing action is simultaneous with and subordinate to the main action
b) The -ing action is a direct and immediate consequence of the main action
Let’s look at the examples you presented.
"I lifted the weight
, humming a tune."
Here the verb-ing modifier modifies the entire clause before it. Further, the -ing action is simultaneous with and subordinate to the main action
"Donald duck won the contest
, surprising everyone in the nation."
Here the verb-ing modifier modifies the entire clause "Donald Duck won the contest". Further, the -ing action is a direct and immediate consequence of the main action.
In the case of the question you have referred to, the main clause is “A peculiar feature of the embryonic mammalian circulatory system is that in the area of the heart the cells adhere to one another”. The main clause is talking of one peculiar feature. This feature is that
the heart cells adhere to one another.
The -ing modifier is modifying the main clause. It is referring to simultaneous actions that are subordinate to the main action. Also, if we look at this -ing clause two contrasting actions are being referred to – “beating in unison” and “adopting orientation that is specialized.” In other words, we need to show this contrast as well.
Many students end up choosing Option C because it looks so nice and clean – adhere, beat, and adopt. But there’s much more to this sentence than just this simple parallelism, and this is what the GMAT is expecting you to spot.
Option D modifies the main clause and, in that modification, presents two actions that are in contrast to each other.
I hope this answers your questions.
f0restreal wrote:
Consider this sentence :
"I lifted the weight ,humming a tune"
here the verb-ing modifier modifies the entire clause before it .
"Donald duck won the contest , surprising everyone in the nation"
here the verb-ing modifier modifies the entire clause "donald duck won the contest"
Using the above analogy I eliminated option (D) - which turns out to be the right answer choice to this question
A peculiar feature of the embryonic mammalian circulatory system
is that in the area of the heart the cells adhere to one another, beating in unison yet adopting specialized orientations exclusive of one another.
So it seemed illogical to me .
CrackVerbal ExpertsGlobal can you please clarify my concepts which I used in the above ?
Here the verb-ing modifier = "beating .. yet adopting .." should modify the entire preceding clause right ?