KomalSg wrote:
Astronomers launched Rosetta to send information about Comet 67P,
escorting it as it orbits the sun.
What does the underlined portion modify?
A) Verb - launched
B) Action - to send
This is from
e-gmat. I have looked at the explanation provided by them, and I still don't get it. How is the modifier modifying the action to send. Also, I thought that the pronoun it was a bit ambiguous. I will really appreciate, if someone can help me out.
That sentence is not effective.
It seems to convey the illogical meaning that astronomers launched Rosetta in order for astronomers to send information about Comet 67P, and that, as they send the information, the astronomers are escorting either the satellite or the comet as it orbits the sun.
I guess, under that interpretation, the underlined portion would modify the entire preceding clause, and have "astronomers" as the agent of "escorting."
Since the meaning is nonsensical when the sentence is interpreted in that way, whether "escorting" works with "send" or launched cannot be determined.
The alternative way to interpret the sentence is a looser one, that the satellite sends and is escorting, in which case, the underlined portion modifies the part about the satellite and "satellite" is the agent of "escorting," in which case the underlined modifier is in a sense modifying "send," by adding information indicating what the satellite does as it sends information.