In August 1883, Krakatoa erupted and sent clouds of dust, ash, and

Question

Project SC Butler: Day 17: Sentence Correction (SC2) 
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In August 1883, Krakatoa erupted and sent clouds of dust, ash, and sulphate to a height of 50 miles,  blotted out the sun for more than two days within  a 50-mile radius and for nearly a day at an observation post 130 miles away.

(A) blotted out the sun for more than two days within 
(B) blotting out the sun for more than two days within 
(C) the sun being blotted out for more than two days in 
(D) having blotted out the sun for more than two days in 
(E) for more than two days blotting out the sun within

The best/excellent answers get kudos, which will be  awarded  after   the answer is revealed. 
There may be no best/excellent answers, or a there may be a few excellent answers!

ritu1009 · Answer

The correct ans is B, as the eruption caused the blotting of the sun. Also blotting is parallel with erupted.

adkikani · Answer

Hi  ritu1009

True, coma + verb-ing correctly denotes the result of preceding clause.

Are you sure?
Can you identify main verbs and modifiers before seeing spoiler?

main verbs  erputed  and  sent  correctly connected by using  and  ; blotting is a coma+verb-ing modifier.
Correct parallelism:

In August 1883, Krakatoa
  erupted and  
 sent   clouds of dust, ash, and sulphate to a height of 50 miles, blotting out the sun 
  for more than two days within a 50-mile radius and  
 for nearly a day at an observation post 130 miles away.

Wonderwoman31 · Answer

Explanation

Meaning - Karakatoa erupted and sent clouds of dust and then this cloud of dust blotted out the sun

1. Option A seems correct as blotted is a verb-ed modifier correctly modifying clouds of dust 
2. Option B though correctly makes sense with the verb of the preceding clause, it does not make sense with the subject as Krakatoa cannot blot the sun. It is the dust which could blot the sun
3. if the sentence after comma is noun + noun modifier, them what is sun trying to modify
4. The sentence means the sun was already blotted and then eruption took place - incorrect meaning
5. prepositional phrase can modify both noun and verb, but, in the case, both the modifications do not make sense. Also, blotting is modifying days

ritu1009 · Answer

Are you sure?
Can you identify main verbs and modifiers before seeing spoiler?

main verbs  erputed  and  sent  correctly connected by using  and  ; blotting is a coma+verb-ing modifier.
Correct parallelism:

In August 1883, Krakatoa
  erupted and  
 sent   clouds of dust, ash, and sulphate to a height of 50 miles, blotting out the sun 
  for more than two days within a 50-mile radius and  
 for nearly a day at an observation post 130 miles away.   [/quote
The main verb here is erupted and sent and the blotting out is the verb-ing modifier

Kezia9 · Answer

aragonn · Answer

Official Explanation: 
In choice A, blotted is incorrect; the present participial blotting . . . is needed to described an event that is simultaneous with the action of the main clause. Choice B presents the correctly formed modifier. The passive constructiOn of choice C does not indicate that Krakatoa was responsible for blotting . out the sun; also, within would be preferable to ir here. Th" verb form as well as the preposition can be faulted inD; having blotted states that Krakatoa had blotted out the sun before it erupted. Choice E produces a sentence that is ungrammatical and lacks parallelism: blotting out the.run must precede for more . . . and for nearly . . . if it is to be modified by both phrases.

Wonderwoman31 · Answer

aragonn . Could you please look at my explanation on why b should be wrong. I am still no convinced on b being the right answer choice

Posted from my mobile device

aragonn · Answer

COMMA + verb-ing modifier—> modifies the preceding clause. so focus on verb "erupted and sent clouds of dust". That is why B is correct.

COMMA + verb-ed modifier —> Always modify preceding noun or noun phrase. So in A, blotted is for "a height of 50 miles".

B is best of the lot.

RamSep · Answer

The difference between A & B could be the difference between active and passive voice. it is the cloud that blot the Sun (Active).
We also can use properties of ",+ing" modifiers, one of which is to present the result of an action. Here, the result of eruption is blotting the Sun.
So we have to go with A.

Gmat2Cracker · Answer

B- correct
(ing) modifying the preceding clause.

daagh · Answer

RamSep 
Could you pl. explain how B is a passive voice sentence. Is there any passive voice marker such as "was blotted' or "by" in B?

gadde22 · Answer

A - Verbed modifier - can modify only 50 miles -  incorrect

B - Blotting - correct - presenting the result and doer of the action is subject, for more than 2 days is parallel for nearly a day -  correct

C - being is used as verbing -  incorrect

D - having blotted - doesnot convey blotting as result of eruption -  incorrect

e - we are not sure for how many days it erupted but blotted sun for 2 days -  incorrect

mckaziwa · Answer

Hello,

I think this is a bit too late, but B is correct because "blotting" gives the results of an action so we need -ing form. But I am not sure why E is wrong: misplaced modifier?

Cheers

Diksha123456789 · Answer

Hi  GMATNinja , Can you kindly explain this one?

blimyc5 · Answer

Blotted is a noun modifier but we want to refer to the action of eruption because the eruption caused the blotting. As the word eruption has not been mentioned as is, we can't use Blotted. Blotting is correct as it presents the effects of the action of eruption and also agrees with the subject of the previous clause

In August 1883, Krakatoa erupted and sent clouds of dust, ash, and

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

In August 1883, Krakatoa erupted and sent clouds of dust, ash, and

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

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