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Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them 24 May 2021, 23:48
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I have no doubt about pronoun 'them' in B. My question is all about modifier concept that OG explains. It's very confusing.
According to OG, 'carefully coordinating...' is in position to modify 'book illustrations', but my understanding is, 'carefully coordinating...' should modify 'Beatrix Potter' instead, which is similar to ''Walking along the road, Beatrix Potter saw several types of flowers''. Can anyone explain ?

Hi badplanner,

Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives, capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world.

Choice B: In her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives, Beatrix Potter
In this choice, we have verb-ing modifier “coordinating” after comma. The rule is if the verb-ing modifier is placed after comma, then it modifies the entire preceding clause. However, in this choice, there is not clause before the comma.

You are correct in saying that Beatrix Potter did the action of “coordinating” and logically it should refer to Potter. However, the placement of this modifier is such that it fails to do what it should do. Hence, logically “coordinating” is modifying Potter but grammatically it is not because of it placement after comma.

Let’s compare this choice with the example you have presented:

Walking along the road, Beatrix Potter saw several types of flowers.

There is no modifier error in this sentence. The sentence begins with the verb-ing modifier “walking”, and correctly modifies the subject of the main clause “Beatrix Potter” because she did the action of walking. Notice here that there is no comma before the verb-ing modifier.
In choice B of this OG question, we do have a comma before the verb-ing modifier. Thus it should modify the preceding clause. But there is no clause there. I also quite don’t agree to all the explanations of OG. They have terrific questions but not all the explanations are that good.

The usage of Verb-ing Modifiers has been covered in excruciating details in the "Modifiers - Verb-ing" Concept in the Level 1 Preview Concepts. This section is available for free. Just login to e-gmat.com, register for free and learn the concept.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha
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Hello,
Would the following be correct? or is it still incorrect because comma+ ing modifier always needs a clause before it to modify the same?
Eg- Beatrix Potter, carefully coordinating illustrations with her narratives, capitalized....

Also, Is the following correct since now without comma coordinating can modify immediate preceding noun?
Eg- Beatrix Potter carefully coordinating illustrations with her narratives, capitalized..
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Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them 25 May 2021, 05:10
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SDW2
Would the following be correct? or is it still incorrect because comma+ ing modifier always needs a clause before it to modify the same?
Eg- Beatrix Potter, carefully coordinating illustrations with her narratives, capitalized....
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This seems fine to me SDW2.

Quote:
Also, Is the following correct since now without comma coordinating can modify immediate preceding noun?
Eg- Beatrix Potter carefully coordinating illustrations with her narratives, capitalized..
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Yeah...this will be a problem. Notice that by removing the comma, you have basically made an essential modifier. For example:

People misusing their Government facilities, will be punished.
- This means that out of all the people, those people who are misusing their Government facilities, will be punished.

Similarly, when we say:

Beatrix Potter carefully coordinating illustrations with her narratives....
- This could mean that out all of all the Beatrix Potters, the sentence is talking about the Beatrix Potter who carefully coordinated illustrations with her narratives. Clearly not the intended meaning.
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Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them 04 Jun 2021, 08:23
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Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives, capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world.


(A) Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives,

(B) In her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives, Beatrix Potter

(C) In her book illustrations, which she carefully coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix Potter

(D) Carefully coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations

(E) Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinated them with her narratives and


Show Spoiler
Hi Guys, I have difficulty to understand the OG explanation for elimination of option E.
It says: "them cannot refer back to book illustrations as it is object of the preposition in" ???? What does it exactly mean.
Is it some kind of rule , I hunted on net with faliure.
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In (A), is it valid to take the antecedent of "them" as "book illustration", since its just a modifier and not a part of the structure of the sentence?

In (B), can the "carefully coordinating them with her narratives" be a double modifier of "Beatrix Potter" despite it has "ing" verb which generally modifies the subject of the previous clause, but sometimes as the opening modifier?

In (E) what's wrong?

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Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them 04 Jun 2021, 13:57
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huntgmat
Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives, capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world.


(A) Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives,

(B) In her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives, Beatrix Potter

(C) In her book illustrations, which she carefully coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix Potter

(D) Carefully coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations

(E) Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinated them with her narratives and


Show Spoiler
Hi Guys, I have difficulty to understand the OG explanation for elimination of option E.
It says: "them cannot refer back to book illustrations as it is object of the preposition in" ???? What does it exactly mean.
Is it some kind of rule , I hunted on net with faliure.

In (A), is it valid to take the antecedent of "them" as "book illustration", since its just a modifier and not a part of the structure of the sentence?

In (B), can the "carefully coordinating them with her narratives" be a double modifier of "Beatrix Potter" despite it has "ing" verb which generally modifies the subject of the previous clause, but sometimes as the opening modifier?

In (E) what's wrong?

AndrewN
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Hello, lakshya14. I will get straight to your questions. In (A), yes, them must refer to book illustrations, since no other reasonable plural noun appears in the sentence (not even the potential compound subject in her keen observation and love of the natural world). Thus, you can interpret (A) as,

Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating her book illustrations with her narratives...

That is most unsatisfying, I think you will agree. Why not just say that Beatrix Potter carefully coordinated her book illustrations with her narratives?

In (B), again, yes, you might want to think of carefully coordinating them with her narratives as a modifier of the noun that follows, namely the author herself, but double-stacked introductory phrases are often a telltale sign of a poorly written sentence in GMAT™ world, not to mention that the -ing modifier reaches backward and forward at the same time—we still need to refer back to her illustrations to qualify them, but we are left in suspense until we jump across the comma and reach Beatrix Potter. In short, (B) is just as much of a mess as (A).

Finally, (E) places this in her book illustrations in a tight spot. It seems to be an aside, non-essential information that is roped off by commas, but then we get carefully coordinated them after the second comma. The sentence logically reads,

Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinated her book illustrations with her narratives and...

Why would the sentence need to mention her book illustrations twice to express the vital meaning? (C) is the only answer choice that sidesteps this major stylistic flaw. By adopting an introductory phrase, relative clause, main clause structure, it presents the information in a clear and direct manner (no repetitions needed).

I hope that addresses your concerns. Thank you for thinking to ask.

- Andrew
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Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them 16 Jun 2021, 05:29
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In choice C, isn't the modifier "which she carefully coordinated with her narratives" separated with comma a non-essential modifier?
If we remove the same, the sentence will be rendered meaningless.
I rejected choice C on the same pretext only because it contains a non-essential modifier which when removed will make the sentence unclear.
GMATNinja, EMPOWERgmatVerbal, egmat VeritasKarishma pls. help me understand
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Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them 16 Jun 2021, 23:21
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surajks
In choice C, isn't the modifier "which she carefully coordinated with her narratives" separated with comma a non-essential modifier?
If we remove the same, the sentence will be rendered meaningless.
I rejected choice C on the same pretext only because it contains a non-essential modifier which when removed will make the sentence unclear.
GMATNinja, EMPOWERgmatVerbal, egmat VeritasKarishma pls. help me understand
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When you remove the non essential modifier, the sentence makes complete sense.

Beatrix Potter capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world in her book illustrations.
or
In her book illustrations, Beatrix Potter capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world.

"which she carefully coordinated with her narratives" is modifying "illustrations". The fact that her illustrations were carefully coordinated with her narratives has nothing to do with the fact that she capitalised on her keen observation and love of the natural world in her book illustrations.
These are two different characteristics of her illustrations.
The non essential modifier just tells us something extra about these illustrations.
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Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them 28 Apr 2022, 18:21
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huntgmat
Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives, capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world.


(A) Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives,

(B) In her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives, Beatrix Potter

(C) In her book illustrations, which she carefully coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix Potter

(D) Carefully coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations

(E) Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinated them with her narratives and
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A, and B shouldn't use "coordinating", and the logic of the phrase is lost.

D the comma breaks apart the sentence incorrectly

E uses "them" is ambiguous in it's use, and the modifier is incorrectly uses a comma

C has the correct placement of the modifier, uses "which" correctly, and keeps the subject "Beatrix Potter"
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Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them 06 Dec 2022, 09:46
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Why is option D incorrect in this question? Can someone please help me understand?
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Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them 06 Dec 2022, 11:55
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sharmashagun770
Why is option D incorrect in this question? Can someone please help me understand?
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Here's the (D) version of the sentence.

Carefully coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world.

That version is incorrect because it communicates the illogical idea that Beatrix Potter was "carefully coordinated with her narratives" when she "capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world."

That idea is illogical since it doesn't make sense that Beatrix Potter was coordinated with her narratives (stories) when she capitalized on (utilized) her keen observation and love of the natural world in her book illustrations.
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Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them 07 Dec 2022, 04:36
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sharmashagun770
Why is option D incorrect in this question? Can someone please help me understand?
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Hey sharmashagun770

To add to what MartyTargetTestPrep has said above in this response, I'd like to mention one additional point:

Choice D does not end in a comma.
That gives us:

    D: Carefully coordinated with her narratives, Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world.

For this choice to be correct, we would need a comma after "illustrations" also. In its current form, Choice D places a comma (,) between the subject "Beatrix Potter" and its verb "capitalized". And this is incorrect.


I hope this helps.

Happy Learning!

Abhishek
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Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them 08 Dec 2022, 12:56
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EducationAisle
A handy thing to remember is that GMAT does not like two modifiers "back to back", since GMAT considers this as too much separation between the subject and the main verb.

In A, "in her book illustrations" and "carefully coordinating them with her narratives" are both (at least intended to be) modifying "Beatrix Potter", and the main verb "capitalized" comes only after these two modifiers. Not a great construct.

Q#104 OG12:

El Niño, the periodic abnormal warming of the sea surface off Peru, a phenomenon in which...

Again two modifiers following El Niño...not good.

Q#106 OG13 option B:

Originally developed for ..., having the ability to ..., a technique

Again two modifiers before the subject "a technique" is introduced...not good.
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EducationAisle
Thanks for the explanation. So, you are technically saying that ''consecutive modifier is not allowed in GMAT'', right?
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Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them 08 Dec 2022, 21:29
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MartyTargetTestPrep can you pls explain your second explanation ?

MartyTargetTestPrep
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Hello MartyTargetTestPrep,
Would you mind giving us your opinion regarding answer choice B ?
I was between B and C and picked C , but I think that in B the non restrictive modifier is correctly modifying Beatrix Potter it is just not as efficient as C?
Here's the version created via the use of (B).

    (B) In her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives, Beatrix Potter capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world.

The modifier "carefully coordinating them with her narratives" is problematic in two ways.

One issue is that the participial phrase "carefully coordinating them with her narratives" has to modify the clause "Beatrix Potter capitalized ...." This modification is illogical, because it is not logical that Beatrix Potter would have capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world by or in the process of carefully coordinating her illustrations with her narratives. The two actions have little to do with each other. So, modifying the clause with the participial phrase results in the sentence's conveying a nonsensical meaning.

Secondly, "In her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them" is not logical. It modifies what Beatrix Potter did "in her book illustrations" by saying what she did to her book illustrations, "coordinating them." It does not make sense to mix discussion what she did in and to her illustrations in this manner.
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Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them 08 Dec 2022, 22:46
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So, you are technically saying that ''consecutive modifier is not allowed in GMAT'', right?
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Not preferable. In other words, if two back-to-back modifiers (especially constructs such as two back-to-back participial phrases) are used, see if there are other better choices available.
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Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them 09 Dec 2022, 11:54
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MartyTargetTestPrep can you pls explain your second explanation ?

MartyTargetTestPrep
Here's the version created via the use of (B).

    (B) In her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them with her narratives, Beatrix Potter capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world.

The modifier "carefully coordinating them with her narratives" is problematic in two ways.

One issue is that the participial phrase "carefully coordinating them with her narratives" has to modify the clause "Beatrix Potter capitalized ...." This modification is illogical, because it is not logical that Beatrix Potter would have capitalized on her keen observation and love of the natural world by or in the process of carefully coordinating her illustrations with her narratives. The two actions have little to do with each other. So, modifying the clause with the participial phrase results in the sentence's conveying a nonsensical meaning.

Secondly, "In her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them" is not logical. It modifies what Beatrix Potter did "in her book illustrations" by saying what she did to her book illustrations, "coordinating them." It does not make sense to mix discussion what she did in and to her illustrations in this manner.

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Can you tell me more specifically are you wondering about?
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Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them 09 Dec 2022, 15:33
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So, you are technically saying that ''consecutive modifier is not allowed in GMAT'', right?
Not preferable. In other words, if two back-to-back modifiers (especially constructs such as two back-to-back participial phrases) are used, see if there are other better choices available.
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I got the same message from sayantanc2k 2 yrs back! I also tested it scrutinizing most of the official questions, and it works.
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Beatrix Potter, in her book illustrations, carefully coordinating them 10 Dec 2023, 23:34
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Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

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