Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written

Can anyone explain who does 'her' refer to in the highlighted portion of the question? The only person it can refer back to is Susan Huntington Dickinson, but that does not make sense.

Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumbering her letters to anyone else.


(A) Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumbering

(B) Dickinson were written over a period that begins a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ended shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber

(C) Dickinson, written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and that ends shortly before Emily’s death in 1886 and outnumbering

(D) Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother, ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, and outnumbering

(E) Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber


Comma + which : LINK 1 & LINK 2 & LINK 3

Hi everyone. Recently, I have been very confused with comma + ing modifiers. There are different rules written at different places. Can you lay down some basic concrete rules?
1. The subject should directly/indirectly agree with ing modifier
2. The ing modifier should show immediate result of the action or should modify the action.
Are these rules correct? or is there more to add?
AndrewN IanStewart DmitryFarber GMATNinja

This Q is FAAD !!!! Though I am thankful to all the experts here, I am still not clear on the usage of "which" in E.

Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumbering her letters to anyone else.


(A) Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumbering

(B) Dickinson were written over a period that begins a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ended shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber

(C) Dickinson, written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and that ends shortly before Emily’s death in 1886 and outnumbering

(D) Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother, ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, and outnumbering

(E) Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber


Comma + which : LINK 1 & LINK 2 & LINK 3

Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumbering her letters to anyone else.


(A) Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumbering

(B) Dickinson were written over a period that begins a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ended shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber

(C) Dickinson, written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and that ends shortly before Emily’s death in 1886 and outnumbering

(D) Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother, ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, and outnumbering

(E) Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber


Comma + which : LINK 1 & LINK 2 & LINK 3

what's the difference between "... , which" and ".... which"?

For example, in option E: with the comma in front of "which", “which” now modifies the subject of the first sentence - "Emily Disckinson's Letter". In the case when there's no comma before "which", does it modify "Susan Huntington Dickinson" ?

E. "Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber her letters to anyone else."

Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumbering her letters to anyone else.


(A) Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumbering

(B) Dickinson were written over a period that begins a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ended shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber

(C) Dickinson, written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and that ends shortly before Emily’s death in 1886 and outnumbering

(D) Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother, ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, and outnumbering

(E) Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber


Dickinson's surviving letters to Susan, which began ardently a few years before Susan's marriage and continued almost until the poet's death in 1886, outnumber her letters to anyone else. After an examination of these cryptic messages, Ellen Louise Hart and Martha Nell Smith have emerged up in arms for Susan. In compiling ''Open Me Carefully'' (which includes more than 20 poems and one letter not previously connected to Susan), they aim to show that the women enjoyed a long, close relationship, one whose workaday exchange of ''letter-poems'' (Susan's term) contributed to ''the texture of their daily life.'' Even more urgent, however, is their intent to champion Susan as Dickinson's ''primary reader'' -- the person they believe exerted the most significant, sustaining influence on Dickinson's poetic and erotic sensibility.[/spoiler]

Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumbering her letters to anyone else.


(A) Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumbering

(B) Dickinson were written over a period that begins a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ended shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber

(C) Dickinson, written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and that ends shortly before Emily’s death in 1886 and outnumbering

(D) Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother, ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, and outnumbering

(E) Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber

(A) Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumbering

(B) Dickinson were written over a period that begins a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ended shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber

(C) Dickinson, written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and that ends shortly before Emily’s death in 1886 and outnumbering

D) Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother, ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, and outnumbering

(E) Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber

Hello friends,

The statistics for this question reveal that there is great confusion as to why Choice E is the correct answer and why choice A is incorrect.

To figure out why Choice A is incorrect, let's first understand the meaning of this sentence. We will do so by breaking the sentence into smaller logical chunks so that we can deal with each chunk individually and assimilate the meaning as we read on. This approach is the most effective way to extract the meaning presented by the sentence.

Sentence Structure   



Meaning 

The sentence says that Emily Dickinson (ED) wrote letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson (SHD) over a certain period. This period spans from a few years before SHD got married to ED's brother to ED's death in 1886.

Now, the last part of the sentence uses the comma + verb-ing modifier "outnumbering her letters…" which is an action modifier. This modifier can modify the preceding clause in one of the three ways:

1. By presenting the "how" aspect of the modified clause.
2. By presenting the "result" of the modified clause.
3. By presenting information that supports the information presented by the preceding clause.

Now, let's assess the meaning we get by the usage of the comma + verb-ing modifier "outnumbering her letters…".

1. Is it logical to say that ED wrote letters to SHD over a certain period by outnumbering or exceeding her letters to anyone else? No, this meaning is illogical.
2. Is it logical to say that ED wrote letters to SHD over a certain period and, therefore, outnumbered or exceeded her letters to anyone else? No, this meaning is illogical too.
3. Has the action of outnumbering/exceeding her letters to anyone else got anything to do with ED writing letters to SHD over a certain period? No, there is no logical connection between writing the letters over a certain period and these letters outnumbering ED's letters to anyone else.

So, the use of the comma + verbing modifier "outnumbering her letters…" makes the sentence incorrect because this modifier does not present logical meaning. Therefore, Choice A is incorrect.




Let's understand the application of the comma + verb-ing modifier through a few example sentences:

• The film was shot in the small town of Guttenberg, exceeding the expectations of the producers.

The use of the comma + verb-ing modifier comma + exceeding… is incorrect in this sentence because this modifier illogically modifies the preceding clause. It does not make sense to say that because the film was shot in a small town, the film exceeded the expectations of the producers.


Let's study the next sentence:
• The film, shot in the small town of Guttenberg, exceeded the expectations of the producers.

This sentence simply states the fact that this film exceeded the expectations. It also provides extra information about where the film was shot. These two pieces of information are independent of each other. So, this sentence is logical and grammatical.


Now let's look at this one:
• The film received significant critical acclaim, exceeding the expectations of the producers.

This sentence is logical. In this sentence, the comma + verb-ing modifier exceeding… makes complete sense in modifying the preceding clause. The expectations of the producers were exceeded because the film received significant critical acclaim.


Resolution   

So, we understand that in this official question the action of ED's letters exceeding her letters to anyone else has got nothing to do with ED writing those letters to SHD over a certain period. These two actions are independent of each other. The correct answer, Choice E, presents this logical meaning. It correctly says that ED wrote letters to SHD over a certain period of time, and her letters to SHD outnumber or exceed ED's letters to anyone else.


Learning Resources   

The comma + verb-ing modifier concept can be problematic and often leave students confused. No worries, we have you covered with additional resources to help you master this concept in no time. We love our modifiers and are here to help you love them too!

1. Check out another hard official question that tests this same concept and will help solidify your understanding - Leafy Spurge.You can also see how we tackle this question in our Free SC Session. The Leafy Spurge question is covered at 1:32:10 in the video here.

2. Click on this link for the complete solution to ED's letters question on our blog.
Click on this link for the video solution:

3. Even better- the comma + verb-ing modifier concept is part of the e-GMAT free trial; click on the link below to access this fantastic content.

4. Finally, join the 500 others who have found help in our article on Verb-Ing Modifiers - Link


Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

Usage of ing modifer

Ing modifier as adjectival modifier - modifies the preceding subject
Ing modifier as adverbial modifier - modifies the clause
Ing modifier - can be used to show cause effect

In Option A there is correct usage of ing modifier, letter (to SHD) outnumber her letters to anyone else.

I read a comment saying, the subject is very far from modifier then in that case
all the ing modifer used to modify the subject in the preceding clause will be wrong. Can someone please help me clear this concept