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505-555 Level|   Verb Tense/Form|                  
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generis
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By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national 18 Apr 2019, 23:42
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Cheryn
earning these and earning them ie usage of these and them confused me generally as in this example both are used interchangeably in the underlined portion.
is there any rule to differentiate them?
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Cheryn , yes, they are different kinds of words.
On the GMAT, we use these followed by a noun
as a way to point to the noun:
these cookies that you just baked, these horses that we are taking to the vet,
these questions in this forum

These is a demonstrative adjective, not a noun or pronoun.

By contrast, them replaces the noun and stands alone.

• On the GMAT, these, plural of this, is a demonstrative adjective or determiner—it points to specific nouns.

Correct: She earned these gold medals in the museum case because she was a fabulous pilot.
(points to "gold medals" and not the silver medals, for example)
Wrong: She earned them gold medals in the museum case because she was a fabulous pilot.
(them is an object pronoun, not an adjective and determiner)

Incorrect on the GMAT (and in formal writing):
I am impressed by her many medals and surprised that she won all these so quickly.
Correction (use them, the pronoun):
I am impressed by her many medals and surprised that she won all of them so quickly.

Correct: These chocolate truffles without nuts are tasty.
(Points to "chocolate truffles." I don't like the truffles that contain nuts.)
Wrong: These without nuts are tasty.
These WHAT?

• Them is a pronoun and the direct object of a verb or a preposition.
Them stands alone, stands in for the noun, and is not followed by the noun
(them does not "point" to the noun).

Correct, direct object of the verb earned, pronoun:
Airplane enthusiasts still marvel at Cochran's many medals because
she earned THEM so quickly.
("them" is the direct object of the verb "earned" and is a pronoun that replaces the noun "medals."
Wrong:
Airplane enthusiasts still marvel at Cochran's many medals
because she earned them medals so quickly. (OUCH.)

Direct object of a preposition, pronoun:
She was accomplished and gracious; though she won many medals for her flying,
she never bragged about them.

Wrong: She was accomplished and gracious; though she won many flying medals,
she never bragged about these.

Essentially
-- do not leave the word "these" by itself, i.e., without a noun following it,
whereas
-- them stands IN for the noun (so that we don't have to say the noun twice)
Them does stand by itself (is not followed by the noun).

Hope that helps.
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By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national 13 May 2019, 02:32
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generis

Thank you very much for explaining .

so this means even "this" should be used in the similar fashion ( PLEASE CLARIFY AS THIS IS MY REGULAR USAGE)

for eg

if i say thank you very much for explaining this ( singular form of these), then it is wrong..

i should say thank you very much for explaining it ( singular from of them)..

REALLY THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ENLIGHTENING ME IN THE ABOVE TOPIC ( even here i typed enlightening this and then substituted by enlightening me ......)

so kindly clarify this also.
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By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national 13 May 2019, 22:29
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Cheryn
generis

Thank you very much for explaining .

so this means even "this" should be used in the similar fashion ( PLEASE CLARIFY AS THIS IS MY REGULAR USAGE)

for eg

if i say thank you very much for explaining this ( singular form of these), then it is wrong..

i should say thank you very much for explaining it ( singular from of them)..

REALLY THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ENLIGHTENING ME IN THE ABOVE TOPIC ( even here i typed enlightening this and then substituted by enlightening me ......)

so kindly clarify this also.
Show more
Cheryn , on the GMAT, as a general rule, these should be followed by a plural noun and this should be followed by a singular noun.

But if the other four answers are incorrect and one answer is logical and otherwise grammatical but contains THIS or THESE as a pronoun, choose that answer.

I know of exactly one official question in which the correct answer includes the word this used as a pronoun.
That question was published two weeks ago in Official Guide 2020.

Spoiler alert: the correct answer to a very new official question is revealed.

Show Spoiler
In this OG 2020 question, here the word "this" is a pronoun. Only one of the five answers contains "this" used this way, and that answer is correct.

Similarly, I know of exactly one official question in which the correct answer includes the use of the word THESE as a pronoun.
That GMAT Prep question was available in 2008, I believe. You can find that question here.

I would read the topic thread discussions about those two questions.
The discussions are interesting and may help you.

Almost all of the time on the GMAT, these and this are demonstrative articles.

I cannot give you a better answer than that. [In the preceding sentence, pronoun that is a copy of answer.]
I sense that you would like me to give you a guarantee or an inviolable rule.

I can't do so. GMAC does not publish an official guide or grammar book.
We know what to expect on the GMAT only from published questions that have been retired.

Some grammarians accept the use of this and these as pronouns.
Other grammarians reject the use of this and these as pronouns.

Quote:
If i say thank you very much for explaining this ( singular form of these), then it is wrong..
Show more
On the GMAT, that construction is highly unlikely to be the correct answer.
Check the other four answers.
Quote:
i should say thank you very much for explaining it ( singular from of them)..
Show more
Not quite. You should use a specific noun or noun phrase, because so far in your post, none exists.
You could say,
"Thank you for answering my question."
"Thank you for explaining the difference between them and these."
"Thank you for explaining the issue."
(I understand what "the issue" refers to because I wrote the answer.)

On the GMAT the word it needs an antecedent.
What does "it" refer to?

You wrote:
PLEASE CLARIFY AS THIS IS MY REGULAR USAGE,

You are asking about the GMAT.
On the GMAT, the typical way in which you use the word this is very likely to be wrong.

I hope that answer helps.
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By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national 08 Feb 2020, 08:46
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VeritasKarishma MentorTutoring Abhi077 AjiteshArun

Quote:
By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national and international speed records, and she earned them at a time when aviation was still so new for many of the planes she flew to be of dangerously experimental design.
Show more

Quote:
earned at a time when aviation was still so new that many of the planes she flew were
Show more

Why do we not connect two main verbs: HELD and EARNED using AND in OA?
Sentence structure:

By 1940, (Opening modifier)
the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national and international speed records, (although in non-underlined portion, one can use HAD HELD too since we are given specific time marker)
earned at a time when aviation was still so new that many of the planes she flew were of dangerously experimental design.

Quote:
(B) earning them at a time that aviation was still so new for many of the planes she flew to be
(C) earning these at a time where aviation was still so new that many of the planes she flew were
Show more
It was definitely a close call to point correct usage of coma+ verb-ing modifer: earning presenting result of preceding clause with subject:Jacqueline Cochran in (B/C) which are incorrect because of incorrect relative pronoun: that and where
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By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national 08 Feb 2020, 09:42
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adkikani
VeritasKarishma MentorTutoring Abhi077 AjiteshArun

Quote:
By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national and international speed records, and she earned them at a time when aviation was still so new for many of the planes she flew to be of dangerously experimental design.

Quote:
earned at a time when aviation was still so new that many of the planes she flew were

Why do we not connect two main verbs: HELD and EARNED using AND in OA?
Sentence structure:

By 1940, (Opening modifier)
the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national and international speed records, (although in non-underlined portion, one can use HAD HELD too since we are given specific time marker)
earned at a time when aviation was still so new that many of the planes she flew were of dangerously experimental design.

Quote:
(B) earning them at a time that aviation was still so new for many of the planes she flew to be
(C) earning these at a time where aviation was still so new that many of the planes she flew were
It was definitely a close call to point correct usage of coma+ verb-ing modifer: earning presenting result of preceding clause with subject:Jacqueline Cochran in (B/C) which are incorrect because of incorrect relative pronoun: that and where
Show more
The simple answer, adkikani, is that earned is not being used as a verb in the correct answer, but as a past participle (at the head of a participial phrase) instead. Your assessment of (B) and (C) is correct, and I like to teach students to look for obvious errors before committing too heavily to a split for just this sort of reason. You were unsure about earning, but you were certain about the other errors. Well done.

Note that you could choose to turn earned into a verb that was parallel with held, but remember, you are stuck with what is on the screen in front of you, and (E) is the winner here.

- Andrew
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By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national 09 Feb 2020, 23:05
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adkikani
VeritasKarishma MentorTutoring Abhi077 AjiteshArun

Quote:
By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national and international speed records, and she earned them at a time when aviation was still so new for many of the planes she flew to be of dangerously experimental design.

Quote:
earned at a time when aviation was still so new that many of the planes she flew were

Why do we not connect two main verbs: HELD and EARNED using AND in OA?
Sentence structure:

By 1940, (Opening modifier)
the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national and international speed records, (although in non-underlined portion, one can use HAD HELD too since we are given specific time marker)
earned at a time when aviation was still so new that many of the planes she flew were of dangerously experimental design.

Quote:
(B) earning them at a time that aviation was still so new for many of the planes she flew to be
(C) earning these at a time where aviation was still so new that many of the planes she flew were
It was definitely a close call to point correct usage of coma+ verb-ing modifer: earning presenting result of preceding clause with subject:Jacqueline Cochran in (B/C) which are incorrect because of incorrect relative pronoun: that and where
Show more

'held' and 'earned' do not form two independent clauses. "earned at a time..." modifies the 17 speed records. Hence they will not be connected with 'and'.
For more on this, check: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2014/1 ... -the-gmat/

Also, you cannot use 'had held' here because she held the 17 records by 1940, not before that. In 1939, she may have held 16 records, in 1938, 15 records etc - we don't know. So we are talking about a single time in past i.e. 1940 when she held 17 records. So past perfect is not appropriate.
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By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national 08 Apr 2020, 11:07
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I chose (E). But I'm still confused about the "earning" and "earned". If we choose "earning" then its modifying Jacqueline Cochran, who did the act of earning.

But if we choose "earned" it is modifying records.

Which one of the 2 is correct?
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By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national 12 Apr 2020, 03:33
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GMATNinja hazelnut generis egmat @EMPOWERgmat

I have a doubt regarding the verb-tense used in the non - underline part of the sentence

By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national and international speed records,


In the non-underlined part, why is the clause after "By 1940" written in simple past? Shouldn't it be past perfect tense?
Event 1: JC held records
Event 2: By 1940

JC held the records by the time it was 1940. In other words, Event 1 happens before Event 2
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By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national 13 Apr 2020, 14:00
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Hoozan
GMATNinja hazelnut generis egmat @EMPOWERgmat

I have a doubt regarding the verb-tense used in the non - underline part of the sentence

By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national and international speed records,


In the non-underlined part, why is the clause after "By 1940" written in simple past? Shouldn't it be past perfect tense?
Event 1: JC held records
Event 2: By 1940

JC held the records by the time it was 1940. In other words, Event 1 happens before Event 2
Show more

Thanks for your question, Hoozan!

In this clause, the event you're looking at is not when Cochran EARNED each of the records, it's when she HELD them - which was in 1940. If the verb had been "earned," then you would absolutely have to say she "had earned" them all by 1940 because it would be talking about an event that started prior to 1940 (earning the first record) and ended in 1940 (earning the last record). Since we're only talking about when she HELD all of the records collectively, it's fine to use plain past tense because she didn't hold them all until 1940, which is one singular event.

I hope that helps!

If you'd like to work through some more SC questions and compete for a month of free tutoring credit from EMPOWERgmat, check out our Kudos Contest HERE! We post new questions every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday!
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By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national 14 Apr 2020, 06:57
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Hoozan
GMATNinja hazelnut generis egmat @EMPOWERgmat

I have a doubt regarding the verb-tense used in the non - underline part of the sentence

By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national and international speed records,


In the non-underlined part, why is the clause after "By 1940" written in simple past? Shouldn't it be past perfect tense?
Event 1: JC held records
Event 2: By 1940

JC held the records by the time it was 1940. In other words, Event 1 happens before Event 2
Show more
As suggested in this post by VeritasKarishma, the use of the past perfect (had held) would actually make the intended meaning LESS clear. Did Cochran hold those 17 records for a while and then LOSE some of them before 1940? Maybe she held each record for a week or two but never held all 17 at once?

Remember, grammar "rules" only exist for the sake of clarity and logic -- that's why, sadly, there are so few black and white rules that we can rely on. Can you use the past perfect with a time marker? Of course. Does that mean that you must ALWAYS use the past perfect when a time marker is present? Unfortunately not -- it just depends on the context. In this case, using "held" makes the meaning more clear.

More importantly, since "held" is not in the underlined portion and all five options use it, we don't need to worry about this at all! Your job is to select the BEST answer choice out of the five available options. Looking at a single sentence in a bubble and trying to determine whether it's "correct" or "incorrect" based on grammar "rules" is an entirely different job -- one that you'll never have to do on test day. :)

I hope this helps!
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By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national 14 Apr 2020, 21:18
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lakshya14
I chose (E). But I'm still confused about the "earning" and "earned". If we choose "earning" then its modifying Jacqueline Cochran, who did the act of earning.

But if we choose "earned" it is modifying records.

Which one of the 2 is correct?
Show more

Yes, can someone please elaborate?

For example if answer choice B was : "earning them at a time when aviation was still so new that many of the planes she flew were"

Would this be correct?
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By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national 29 Apr 2020, 10:41
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lakshya14
I chose (E). But I'm still confused about the "earning" and "earned". If we choose "earning" then its modifying Jacqueline Cochran, who did the act of earning.

But if we choose "earned" it is modifying records.

Which one of the 2 is correct?

Yes, can someone please elaborate?

For example if answer choice B was : "earning them at a time when aviation was still so new that many of the planes she flew were"

Would this be correct?
Show more
First, a public service announcement: generally speaking, there isn't much value in altering answer choices; (B), as is, contains other conspicuous errors. This isn't a coincidence. It's an indication that the question writer recognized that the difference between (E) and your hypothetical would be too subtle to serve as a decision point.

Remember, the question we're often asking ourselves isn't "is this construction technically allowed?" The real question is: "is this the clearest/most logical option of the five choices I'm given?"

That said, you can probably still make the case that "earned" works better here, even if "earning" isn't technically wrong.

Let's start with a simpler example:

    "Tim bought a fancy car, trying to impress his friends." - "Trying" clearly modifies the entire clause here. Why did Tim buy a fancy car? What was his motivation? What was he thinking when he spent all that money on a fancy car?! Well, he was trying to impress his friends.

Now back to this question:

    "Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national and international speed records, earning them at a time..." - Here the "earning..." part seems to modify the entire preceding clause ("Cochran held..."). But does that really make sense? Was Cochran earning the records while she was holding them? Does the "earning..." part tell us why or how she held the records?

It makes more sense for "earned..." to modify the records themselves, as in choice (E).

The more important takeaway: your job is to figure out which of the five options is best, not to come up with every possible allowable construction.

I hope that helps!
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By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national 14 May 2020, 05:20
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By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national and international speed records, and she earned them at a time when aviation was still so new for many of the planes she flew to be of dangerously experimental design.

POE:
Eliminate (A),(B) - meaning, The sentences are stating that 'the aviation was new for many of the planes' which is not the intended meaning.
Eliminate (C) - 'where' is used for place. Eliminate (D) - use of 'new such' together is wrong.

(A) and she earned them at a time when aviation was still so new for many of the planes she flew to be

(B) earning them at a time that aviation was still so new for many of the planes she flew were

(C) earning these at a time where aviation was still so new that many of the planes she flew were

(D) earned at a time in which aviation was still so new such that many of the planes she flew were

(E) earned at a time when aviation was still so new that many of the planes she flew were - CORRECT
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By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national 10 Jun 2020, 06:50
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varotkorn
Dear GMATGuruNY AjiteshArun IanStewart EducationAisle MartyTargetTestPrep DmitryFarber GMATRockstar GMATNinja VeritasPrepHailey egmat

I'm just curious why By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national and international speed records is correct.

Shouldn't it be By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran HAD held seventeen official national and international speed records?
Show more
Does the version with "HAD" make sense?

Think about it.

That version conveys that, by 1940, she had held, but no longer held the records, a meaning that is clearly illogical.

So, it turns out that you don't quite have the rule straight.

That rule applies only when an event had occurred before or ended "by" a certain point in time.
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By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national Updated on: 08 Jul 2020, 06:03
Originally posted by IanStewart on 10 Jun 2020, 08:03.
Last edited by IanStewart on 08 Jul 2020, 06:03, edited 1 time in total.
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varotkorn

I'm just curious why By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national and international speed records is correct.

Shouldn't it be By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran HAD held seventeen official national and international speed records?
Show more

In all of your examples, "had" is used to describe something that had concluded or had been accomplished by the time period described in the sentence. In the Cochran sentence, it would only be correct to use "had" if her tenure as record-holder had concluded. So using "had held" suggests she no longer held the records, while using "held" suggests she continued to hold the records, at the time described.
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By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national 17 Apr 2021, 23:54
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Hi GMATNinja egmat

This question is breaking my understanding. :cry:

At first, I understand that

S+V, participle has the rule that;
1. modify preceding clause
2. the doer of participle is the subject of the preceding clause

Meaning that, from the rule, we can use some step to eliminate the choice

From 1, we can check that the participle makes sense to modify the preceding clause or not AND check the v.ing/v.ed form.
In this case;
1. JC held records, earning them at a time... -> make sense because 'earning them at a time...' is try to let us know that [i]how did JC hold these records[/i]
2. JC held records, earned at a time... -> not make sense because JC cannot be earned. it should be 'Records were held by JC, earned at a time...' because 'Records' can be earned.
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By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national 20 Apr 2021, 20:25
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Foi2Evei2
Hi GMATNinja egmat

This question is breaking my understanding. :cry:

At first, I understand that

S+V, participle has the rule that;
1. modify preceding clause
2. the doer of participle is the subject of the preceding clause

Meaning that, from the rule, we can use some step to eliminate the choice

From 1, we can check that the participle makes sense to modify the preceding clause or not AND check the v.ing/v.ed form.
In this case;
1. JC held records, earning them at a time... -> make sense because 'earning them at a time...' is try to let us know that [i]how did JC hold these records[/i]
2. JC held records, earned at a time... -> not make sense because JC cannot be earned. it should be 'Records were held by JC, earned at a time...' because 'Records' can be earned.
Show more
There's a slight difference between present participles (ending in -ing) and past participles (usually ending in -ed).

When an "-ing" modifier is placed after the thing that it's modifying with a comma in between, then it modifies the entire preceding clause. This is in line with your understanding.

On the other hand, "-ed" modifiers usually only modify a single noun on the GMAT. If the -ed modifier comes before the thing it's modifying, then it modifies the subject. If the "-ed" modifier comes after the thing that it modifies, it usually modifies the closest noun.

So, is it a hard-and-fast rule that "-ed" can never modify an entire clause? Well, I can't think of an OA that uses an "-ed" modifier to modify an entire clause (if anyone can think of one, let us know!). Does that mean that using an "-ed" modifier to modify a clause (i.e. "Tim paces back and forth, worried that he'll be blamed for his toddler's face tattoos.") is inherently wrong? I don't think so. That example with the face tattoos seems fine to me.

Overall, it's best not to stress over a "rule" that the GMAT may or may not violate at some point. Instead, ask yourself, "What does the "-ed" modifier seem to modify here? Does that make sense?" If so, leave it in the running and look for other decision points.

I hope that helps a bit!
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By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national 21 Apr 2021, 09:45
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GMATNinja
Foi2Evei2
Hi GMATNinja egmat

This question is breaking my understanding. :cry:

At first, I understand that

S+V, participle has the rule that;
1. modify preceding clause
2. the doer of participle is the subject of the preceding clause

Meaning that, from the rule, we can use some step to eliminate the choice

From 1, we can check that the participle makes sense to modify the preceding clause or not AND check the v.ing/v.ed form.
In this case;
1. JC held records, earning them at a time... -> make sense because 'earning them at a time...' is try to let us know that [i]how did JC hold these records[/i]
2. JC held records, earned at a time... -> not make sense because JC cannot be earned. it should be 'Records were held by JC, earned at a time...' because 'Records' can be earned.
There's a slight difference between present participles (ending in -ing) and past participles (usually ending in -ed).

When an "-ing" modifier is placed after the thing that it's modifying with a comma in between, then it modifies the entire preceding clause. This is in line with your understanding.

On the other hand, "-ed" modifiers usually only modify a single noun on the GMAT. If the -ed modifier comes before the thing it's modifying, then it modifies the subject. If the "-ed" modifier comes after the thing that it modifies, it usually modifies the closest noun.

So, is it a hard-and-fast rule that "-ed" can never modify an entire clause? Well, I can't think of an OA that uses an "-ed" modifier to modify an entire clause (if anyone can think of one, let us know!). Does that mean that using an "-ed" modifier to modify a clause (i.e. "Tim paces back and forth, worried that he'll be blamed for his toddler's face tattoos.") is inherently wrong? I don't think so. That example with the face tattoos seems fine to me.

Overall, it's best not to stress over a "rule" that the GMAT may or may not violate at some point. Instead, ask yourself, "What does the "-ed" modifier seem to modify here? Does that make sense?" If so, leave it in the running and look for other decision points.

I hope that helps a bit!
Show more

Hi GMATNinja,

This V-ed MOD issue has been confusing me so long.

Here is an example that V-ed modifies main subject instead of preceding noun.
https://gmatclub.com/forum/many-stock-traders-in-the-united-states-have-set-out-to-become-global-294382-40.html#p2751177

Seem like, in GMAT, there has no hard-and-fast rule for COMMA+V-ed, while that for COMMA+V-ing has.
But, as your recommendation, I agree that it is better to look for other decision points.

Kudo! Foi2Evei2 Really good question BTW!
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By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national 21 Apr 2021, 20:58
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GMATNinja
Foi2Evei2
Hi GMATNinja egmat

This question is breaking my understanding. :cry:

At first, I understand that

S+V, participle has the rule that;
1. modify preceding clause
2. the doer of participle is the subject of the preceding clause

Meaning that, from the rule, we can use some step to eliminate the choice

From 1, we can check that the participle makes sense to modify the preceding clause or not AND check the v.ing/v.ed form.
In this case;
1. JC held records, earning them at a time... -> make sense because 'earning them at a time...' is try to let us know that [i]how did JC hold these records[/i]
2. JC held records, earned at a time... -> not make sense because JC cannot be earned. it should be 'Records were held by JC, earned at a time...' because 'Records' can be earned.
There's a slight difference between present participles (ending in -ing) and past participles (usually ending in -ed).

When an "-ing" modifier is placed after the thing that it's modifying with a comma in between, then it modifies the entire preceding clause. This is in line with your understanding.

On the other hand, "-ed" modifiers usually only modify a single noun on the GMAT. If the -ed modifier comes before the thing it's modifying, then it modifies the subject. If the "-ed" modifier comes after the thing that it modifies, it usually modifies the closest noun.

So, is it a hard-and-fast rule that "-ed" can never modify an entire clause? Well, I can't think of an OA that uses an "-ed" modifier to modify an entire clause (if anyone can think of one, let us know!). Does that mean that using an "-ed" modifier to modify a clause (i.e. "Tim paces back and forth, worried that he'll be blamed for his toddler's face tattoos.") is inherently wrong? I don't think so. That example with the face tattoos seems fine to me.

Overall, it's best not to stress over a "rule" that the GMAT may or may not violate at some point. Instead, ask yourself, "What does the "-ed" modifier seem to modify here? Does that make sense?" If so, leave it in the running and look for other decision points.

I hope that helps a bit!
Show more


Thanks a lot!

Agree that -ed is very tricky. Another question more about the -ed, -ed after the noun with and without comma(,), is there any different.

For me, S+V+Obj+'-ed' this is very clear that -ed modify preceding noun which is Obj in this structure. But S+V+Obj+comma+ '-ed ' is more tricky because it can modify either Obj, Noun or preceding clause right?

Thanks TorGmatGod as well for your sample question
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By 1940, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran held seventeen official national 22 Apr 2021, 20:15
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TorGmatGod
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Foi2Evei2
Hi GMATNinja egmat

This question is breaking my understanding. :cry:

At first, I understand that

S+V, participle has the rule that;
1. modify preceding clause
2. the doer of participle is the subject of the preceding clause

Meaning that, from the rule, we can use some step to eliminate the choice

From 1, we can check that the participle makes sense to modify the preceding clause or not AND check the v.ing/v.ed form.
In this case;
1. JC held records, earning them at a time... -> make sense because 'earning them at a time...' is try to let us know that [i]how did JC hold these records[/i]
2. JC held records, earned at a time... -> not make sense because JC cannot be earned. it should be 'Records were held by JC, earned at a time...' because 'Records' can be earned.
There's a slight difference between present participles (ending in -ing) and past participles (usually ending in -ed).

When an "-ing" modifier is placed after the thing that it's modifying with a comma in between, then it modifies the entire preceding clause. This is in line with your understanding.

On the other hand, "-ed" modifiers usually only modify a single noun on the GMAT. If the -ed modifier comes before the thing it's modifying, then it modifies the subject. If the "-ed" modifier comes after the thing that it modifies, it usually modifies the closest noun.

So, is it a hard-and-fast rule that "-ed" can never modify an entire clause? Well, I can't think of an OA that uses an "-ed" modifier to modify an entire clause (if anyone can think of one, let us know!). Does that mean that using an "-ed" modifier to modify a clause (i.e. "Tim paces back and forth, worried that he'll be blamed for his toddler's face tattoos.") is inherently wrong? I don't think so. That example with the face tattoos seems fine to me.

Overall, it's best not to stress over a "rule" that the GMAT may or may not violate at some point. Instead, ask yourself, "What does the "-ed" modifier seem to modify here? Does that make sense?" If so, leave it in the running and look for other decision points.

I hope that helps a bit!

Hi GMATNinja,

This V-ed MOD issue has been confusing me so long.

Here is an example that V-ed modifies main subject instead of preceding noun.
https://gmatclub.com/forum/many-stock-traders-in-the-united-states-have-set-out-to-become-global-294382-40.html#p2751177

Seem like, in GMAT, there has no hard-and-fast rule for COMMA+V-ed, while that for COMMA+V-ing has.
But, as your recommendation, I agree that it is better to look for other decision points.

Kudo! Foi2Evei2 Really good question BTW!
Show more
Excellent find, TorGmatGod!

As you said, this just goes to show that we have to be careful about making up "rules" when it comes to GMAT SC.

Thanks again for finding this!
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