raahulthakur wrote:
Hey folks, I have a small doubt.
While I understand choice A is incorrect because of other reasons, I can't understand the difference in meaning between 'burn up speeding' and 'burn up while speeding'.
Can anyone or experts throw some light on this specific difference?
GMATNinja AndrewN KarishmaB generisIt's quite surprising that many, all most all on the thread so far, have failed to identify concrete issues with C, D, and E.
raahulthakur Though I'm not an expert, I'll try to give my complete analysis of this question, including explanations for your doubts.
Quote:
Meteor showers and individual streaks of light that flash across the sky every night are generated when tiny flecks of celestial detritus, often no larger than grains of sand or of pebbles, burn up speeding through the atmosphere.
Quote:
(C) grains of sand or pebbles, which burn up while speeding
(D) a grain of sand or pebble, which burns up as it speeds
which burn(s) up ... is totally wrong here, not just for the reasons mentioned by others, but MAJORLY for VIOLATION of basic grammar rule of a complete clause, which requires a subject and a verb. Here, "when tiny flecks of celestial detritus, [modifier]," begins a dependent clause and needs a solid verb.
Strip down the entire sentence to its bare bone to understand that:
Meteor showers are generated [Independent clause]
when tiny flecks burn up. [Dependent clause]Here,
"which" begins another dependent clause, hence not providing a solid verb that the sentence requires. Chuck C and D for this murky hidden error.
Quote:
(E) a grain of sand or a pebble, burns up when it speeds
Again, a simple Subject-verb agreement mistake.
When tiny flecks
burns up??
"Flecks" is a plural subject and needs a plural verb. (burn, in this case, as in options A and B.)
Now, having eliminated C, D, and E for the right reasons, let's focus on A and B.
Quote:
(A) grains of sand or of pebbles, burn up speeding
Although others mentioned that
"of pebbles" wrongly conveys that there are grains of pebbles, I feel that the second
"of" is redundant, making a strong case for the elimination of A.
Besides,
"burn up speeding" is slightly off because it doesn't clearly convey the time frames of two actions, namely burning and speeding.
The usage of while/as, as in option B, provides a better context.
Having said that, I feel this is more of a hair-splitting and idiomatic issue.
Also, note that "speeding through the atmosphere" is an -ing modifier modifying the previous clause and has to make sense with the subject of the clause (tiny flecks).
Quote:
(B) grains of sand or pebbles, burn up while speeding
This fixes all the mess in A.
no redundant "of".
"burn up while speeding" sets the context right and is idiomatic.Note: we need
"grains," not
a grain, to refer to
tiny flecks.
Hope this help!
Hit kudos if you like this explanation.