There would be idiomatic preference for "to protect" over "for protecting". There is also a subtle but material meaning difference between B & C with the difference between the modifiers "intended" and "intending".

In B, the sentence reads "a series of smaller steps intended to protect the fish". It's evident that the steps are what is intended to protect the fish. In C, the sentence reads "a series of smaller steps, intending to protect the fish". Using the participle form, "intending", after a comma changes the way the modifier works. Instead of simply modifying steps, now "intending" is modifying the preceding clauses, implying that the politicians both proposed the smaller steps AND postponed an ambitious plan in an attempt to protect the fish. This doesn't make sense because delaying the ambitious plan does not protect the fish.

Watch out for how changing modifiers change the meaning of the sentence.

KW
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This is primarily a modifier question. The original structure of the sentence is as follows:
Finally reaching a decision..., politicians decided to do X, instead of which they proposed Y, by which they intend to do Z.
The last modifier, "instead of ..." is incorrect.
A better structure would be, "Finally reaching a decision..., politicians decided to do X, proposing instead Y intended to do Z.
Choice (B) fixes it with the correct structure.
Choice (C) is incorrect because it introduces "and instead", which is less precise and inconsistent with the author's original intent.
Choice (D) and (E) both suffer from an error in the first modifier, suggesting that "an ambitious plan" is what finally reached a decision.
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B is my answer.

A. politicians decided to postpone by at least five years an ambitious plan to protect wild salmon and other endangered fish, instead of which they proposed a series of smaller steps, by which they intend This is just nuts
B. politicians decided to postpone by at least five years an ambitious plan to protect wild salmon and other endangered fish, proposing instead a series of smaller steps intended.
C. politicians decided to postpone by at least five years an ambitious plan for protecting wild salmon and other endangered fish, and instead they proposed a series of smaller steps, intending. 2nd place...I believe it's just idiomatic to say an ambitious plan "to protect"; the other differences from B aren't as suspicious to me except that they are wordier.
D. an ambitious plan to protect wild salmon and other endangered fish was postponed by politicians, who instead proposed a series of smaller steps, intending. Politicians reached the decision
E. an ambitious plan to protect wild salmon and other endangered fish has been postponed by politicians, proposing instead a series of smaller steps intended. Politicians reached the decision
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Could someone help B Vs C ??

GMAT Prep Exam pack 1. OA: B

But per the original sentence politicians are the ones who intend.

Finally reaching a decision on an issue that has long been politically charged in the Pacific Northwest, politicians decided to postpone by at least five years an ambitious plan to protect wild salmon and other endangered fish, instead of which they proposed a series of smaller steps, by which they intend to protect the fish.

A. politicians decided to postpone by at least five years an ambitious plan to protect wild salmon and other endangered fish, instead of which they proposed a series of smaller steps, by which they intend
B. politicians decided to postpone by at least five years an ambitious plan to protect wild salmon and other endangered fish, proposing instead a series of smaller steps intended.
C. politicians decided to postpone by at least five years an ambitious plan for protecting wild salmon and other endangered fish, and instead they proposed a series of smaller steps, intending.

I don't see any other problem with (C) except 'for protecting'.

Per the original sentence also 'they proposed a series of smaller steps, by which they intend'

Also in (C),

they proposed a series of smaller steps, intending.

Verb-Ing correctly modifies previous clause and makes sense with the subject of the preceding clause.

Any suggestions?

OK - a few points to discuss here. First of all, answer choice A does not necessarily reflect the intended meaning of the sentence - it is simply one of the answer choices - so we can't use underlined portions of the original to determine proper meaning.

Second, using the -ing modifier shifts the role of the politicians within the answer choice. Earlier the politicians are the agents who have to decide about a plan that would protect fish but later the politicians take a direct role in protecting fish and the steps are de-emphasized. You will notice in B that the plan is designed to protect and the steps are intended to protect. The structure in B makes much more sense.

Beyond the meaning issues in C, there is the issue with "for protecting" and I don't like the use of the comma before and.

KW
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"Finally reaching a decision, politicians decided" is redundant. Hence none of the options seem correct.

The point here is to decide what really is intended to protect fish. B says that it is the small steps that are intended to protect. This is forthright and touching the nose from the front.
C says that it is the politicians' proposing of small steps that are intended to protect. This is indirect and touching the nose from behind.
The entire canvass has changed in C due to a changed a word. Therefore, B is the better fit.
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C. politicians decided to postpone by at least five years an ambitious plan for protecting wild salmon and other endangered fish, and instead they proposed a series of smaller steps, intending.

Can anyone confirm if "they" is required in the last clause?

Is the following a correct form or is the "they" required?F

Finally reaching a decision....... the politicians decided to postpone.....and instead proposed.......

Amazing discussions above,

would just like to add what I felt while dumping up this(C) answer:
Orignal sentence: politicians decided to postpone a plan by at least five years and proposed a series of smaller steps by which they intended to protect the fish

Original sentence says that politicians proposed small steps and THROUGH THESE SMALL STEPS they intended to protect the fish

Why is Option C wrong:

Here the meaning changes subtly - It says that politicians proposed a series of small steps, intending to..

Well, as per definition of verb-ing modifier-
verb-ing modifier preceded by a comma modifies the preceding clause, it presents either additional information or the result of the preceding clause by associating itself with the subject and the verb of the preceding clause. The verb-ing modifier preceded by a comma has to modify the subject and the verb together.
So option C directly says that Politicians intended to but as per the original sentence Politicians intended through the plan and not on their own and thus C is wrong.

Hope it helps someone reading the explanations.

Regards,
Rishav

egmat payaltandon

Can you please help me understand how is "comma + proposing" correct in option B?
Shouldn't it modify the action in the previous action "decided"? Given this, how is opton B correct?

Regards

Thanks for the explanation!
Athough C is wrong for the reason pointed: intending seems to modify both preceding actions, can this be re-used elsewhere as I chose C thinking that "decided" and "proposed" are parallel.

Moreover, [color=#ff0000]proposing in B seems to modify the postponment by politicians which is not correct and intending in C correctly only modifies the preceding clause instead of the two preceding caluses as pointed by you and thereby rendering this option incorrect!

I ignored the idiom part for protecting which eventually is not correct as I could zero in more issues in B.

Kindly, assist.
[/color]

Hi Experts

Athough C is wrong for the reason pointed in the posts - "intending" seems to modify both preceding actions, can this be re-used elsewhere as I chose C thinking that "decided" and "proposed" are parallel.

Moreover, "proposing" in B seems to modify the postponment by politicians which is not correct and "intending" in C correctly only modifies the preceding clause instead of the two preceding caluses as pointed by you and thereby rendering this option incorrect!

I ignored the idiom part "for protecting" which eventually is not correct as I could zero in more issues in B.

Kindly, assist.

Can anyone please explain the grammer rule related to using
'ing' form after comma?
Since after comma in option B the word is proposing,so it is modifying the entire clause?
I got confused in this question because of the 'ing' modifier.

Posted from my mobile device

Good question! And the answer is yes, "proposing" is modifying the entire clause. The easiest way to assess whether a COMMA + VERB-ing construction works is to recognize that the VERB-ing modifier could be performing one of two functions. It could A) be giving you a consequence of the action given in the previous clause or B) giving you context for the action in the previous clause.

In (B), we have the following:

"...politicians decided to postpone by at least five years an ambitious plan to protect wild salmon and other endangered fish, proposing..."

Here, "proposing" works either way. The politicians decided to postpone their plan, and the consequence of this decision was for those politicians to propose a series of smaller steps instead. Or the politicians decided to postpone their plan, and -- here's some context -- they're proposing a series of smaller steps instead. Both are logical ways to understand the sentence, and so we know that "proposing" is perfectly fine here.

I hope that helps!
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GMATNinja Since you mentioned the VERB-ing COULD be performing one of A or B, I want to ask have you come across any official questions where VERB-ing is performing a function other than A or B? Can we conveniently assume that in most of the cases the function will either be A or B?

Yeah, I think that's a fair assumption. Offhand, I can't think of any examples of COMMA + VERB-ing performing a different function.

However, I have seen one interesting back-and-forth about whether the usage of "including" is fundamentally different than other types VERB-ing modifiers. For example:

"In the last few years, Tim has contracted many diseases, including diphtheria and the bubonic plague." (Tim has small children, so this was inevitable.)

In this case, some might claim that "including" modifies the noun "diseases." It's a perfectly reasonable argument, but I think it's also fair to interpret "including" as modifying the entire previous clause and that the examples of diseases are providing context for what kind of illnesses Tim has contracted.

I hope that helps a bit!
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hi @E-gmat.
can you explain why ", proposing" is modifying decided, the verb of the previous clause? I don't understand it. According to E-gmat prep material, ",+verb-ING" can either refer to the result of a verb or explains "how" expect. But I think that is illogical. how one can decide by proposing something or how can decision leads to proposing something.

Hi @egmat/ VeritasKarishma,

in the right option B, doer of proposing is Politician, but what is the modified action of proposing in this sentence?