clover1987 wrote:
I eliminated option C because I thought there was a modifier error:
(C) an expanding cloud of energized particles ejected from the Sun recently triggered a large storm in the magnetic field that surrounds Earth, brightening the Northern Lights and possibly knocking
- Was it ejected recently?
- Or was it triggered recently?
Please can someone explain if I have done something wrong?
Thanks!
Hi
clover1987,
By modifier, do you mean the
ejected/
triggered split or are you referring to
recently? We can start with
triggered, which is the main verb here. We cannot assume that it is a (passive) participle modifier.
...
an expanding cloud of energized particles ejected from the Sun recently
triggered a large storm in the magnetic field that surrounds Earth...
1. If
triggered were a modifier, we would not have been able to add "a large storm..." (an object, something that tells us
what was triggered) after it.
A partial meltdown triggered by a faulty reactor design... ←
Triggered is a participle here. Because it is passive, there is no "what it triggered" after it. Also, this is not a complete sentence.
A faulty reactor design triggered a partial meltdown. ←
Triggered is a complete (active) verb here. Given this meaning of
triggered (
triggered is
transitive here), we must add a "what it triggered" after it. This is a complete sentence.
2. Similarly, because it is unlikely that the cloud (or particles) ejected like a pilot, we can assume that
ejected is passive in this sentence.
an expanding cloud of energized particles ejected from the Sun ~ an expanding cloud of energized particles that was ejected from the Sun (
was for
cloud,
were if the reference is to
particles)
Because (1) effectively means that
triggered must be a verb, and (2) tells us that
ejected cannot be a verb, we can be absolutely sure that
triggered combines with
cloud to create a subject-verb combination.
All of this is to say that we should not ask "was it triggered", because the cloud was not triggered. Instead, the cloud triggered something else (a large storm).
Now, if you were worried about the
recently, my
guess is that
recently is meant to describe
triggered, because it is not very close to
ejected. The thing to keep in mind here though, is that it (
recently) introduces a little bit of ambiguity in the sentence. That is all. This is not a major issue, and option C is still much better than the other options.
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