Hi there,

Let's look at Choice B first: Initiated on Columbus Day 1992, five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World, a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence was pledged by Project SETI．

The rule about the Verb-ed Modifier that you need to keep in mind here is that whenever a Verb-ed Modifier starts a sentence, it MUST always logically refer to the subject of the main clause.
In this choice, Verb-ed Modifier "Initiated" starts the sentence. So it must logically refer to the Subject of the main clause. The Subject of the main clause per this choice is "a $100 million investment". Is this the entity that the "Initiated" should logically refer to? Certainly not. It was Project SETI that was initiated on Columbus Day 1992. So, in this choice the opening Verb-ed Modifier "Initiated" ILLOGICALLY refers to "a $100 million investment". This is the reason why this choice is Incorrect.

Let's analyze Choice C now: Initiated on Columbus Day 1992，five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World, Project SETI pledged a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence．

Following the same rule, we see that here the opening Verb-ed Modifier "Initiated" now refers to "Project SETI", the Subject of the main clause. This most certainly is the LOGICAL modification. Hence, this choice is Correct.

Pick any official question that starts with Verb-ed Modifier, the opening modifier ALWAYS refers to the Subject of the following clause, for e.g.: OG13#37, #98, #110.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha
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what I dont understand is the structure:
In C and B: Initiated on Columbus Day 1992，five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World, what is the function of the noun phrase in here(five centuries....), at first glance it seemed as an misplaced modifier, because you need a noun subject after the introductory phrase instead we have another modifier, to me the place of this modifier seems illogic.

Anyway, correct me if am wrong:
The sentence starts with an adverb(initiated...) hence it can come any where in the sentence and still modify the main clause, the second bit is a noun modifier(five centuries...) that is functioning as appositive, therefore it can come before or after the noun that it's meant to modify, as a result the sentence is grammatically right.
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Nanquam Fractum

I think "five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World" modifies "Columbus Day 1992", not just Columbus DAy..

five centuries after --> 1992 Columbus Day --> Europeans arrived in the New World
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Nanquam Fractum

'five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World' in option C is an adverbial modifier and it can modify either 'Initiated on Columbus Day 1992' or 'Project SETI pledged a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence'. We cannot say for sure which event has occurred five centuries after the arrival. Thus the modifier is ambiguous even in C. Generally correct answers do not contain this type of error. Rest of the options are even worse, so I chose C. However, I am a little skeptical about the option. Can anyone of you tell me whether my opinion is wrong?

I’m going for C.

Logically the sentence should have “Initiated…” as a modifier of “Project Seti” So I discard B, D and E
A- When did European arrive 1992 or five centuries ago?

Does someone have the OA?

Couple of issues with B:

A) It cannot be interpreted "for sure" from B that Project SETI was also initiated on the same day. This can be interpreted that Project SETI was already running, but it initiated $100 million investment on Columbus Day 1992. However, as the original sentence suggests, Project SETI was initiated $on Columbus Day 1992.

B) It uses passive voice ("a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence was pledged by Project SETI"). When an option is available, generally active voice should be preferred.

In this case, from a grammar point of view, the original sentence is not unclear at all. "initiated..." is a past participial phrase and would modify "Project SETI", implying that "Project SETI" was initiated.

In general, from what I know, the intent should be to preserve the meaning of the original sentence. One exception to this is when the meaning of the original sentence is either ambiguous and just totally illogical.

Let me try, if I can explain your query.

Key answer choices:
(B) Initiated on Columbus Day 1992, five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World，a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence was pledged by Project SETI．
Here, if we get rid of modifier "five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World", which essentially modifies 1992, then the answer can be read something like... > "Initiated on Columbus Day 1992, five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World，a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence was pledged by Project SETI". Here "Initiated on Columbus Day 1992" seems to modify "a $100 million investment". Now which one sounds better i) Investment was initiated or ii) Project was initiated or iii) Investment was done? Clearly 2nd and 3rd point. Since 3rd point is intuitive, and is not there in the sentence we should rule out the answer choice B. This at the same time helps us understand clearly about the intended meaning in original sentence. Because now on we will be looking for an answer choice, in which "Initiated" modifies "project".

(C) Initiated on Columbus Day 1992，five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World，Project SETI pledged a$100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence．
Now that intended meaning is clear, C looks correct choice, as it has modifier "Initiated" modifying "project", and "five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World" modifying "Columbus Day 1992".

Again, we were lucky to understand sentence meaning in answer choice B itself, sometimes we have to glance through all choices for such purpose, if meaning is not clearly understood from original sentence itself.

I knew that noun modifiers can in some certain cases modify some slightly farther nouns. For example, here is an example from an OG correct asnwer choice:

Originally developed for detecting air pollutants, a technique called proton-induced X-ray emission, which can quickly analyze the chemical elements in almost any substance without destroying it ...

'which' can jump over 'called proton-induced X-ray emission' because 'called ... X-ray emissions' is a phrase that modifies 'technique'; 'which' here modifies 'technique' or more precisely the whole phrase 'a technique called proton-induced X-ray emission'

However, consider this example from Verbal Review, 2nd Edition, in a correct answer choice:

Initiated on Columbus Day 1992, five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World, Project SETI pledged a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

Here, 'initiated' modifies 'Project SETI' while the phrase 'five centuries after ...' intervenes.

It is interesting that 'initiated' can jump in this case; actually 'five centuries after ...' seems to be an appositive which describes the 'Columbus Day 1992' which is 'five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World'.
Also notice that this phrase 'five centuries after ...' is a non-essential or non-restrictive modifier.

Let's add this new rule about opening modifiers to our grammar toolbox!