High in the sky, soaring over the foothills that on hot, dry

Let's look at the original sentence:

High in the sky, soaring over the foothills that on hot, dry days look like brushed brown suede, the condor attains a majesty that is rare among birds in flight.

Now let's break it down to its structure:

"High in the sky, [soaring...], the condor..."

Where is the main part of the sentence?

It's here:
"High in the sky, [soaring...], [main sentence]"

So structurally, the -ING verb "soaring" is positioned to describe the subject of the main sentence--which is "the condor." Ask yourself if that makes sense. Do condors "soar over the foothills"??? Yes. It makes sense.

You asked why "soaring over the foothills" does not describe "sky"--well, here's two reasons:

1) Structurally, it's not positioned to describe sky. This is the "description, main sentence" framework we go in further detail in GMATPill.

2) Meaning-wise, it doesn't make sense.

You always need to check these two components. In this case, neither one works in the favor of modifying "sky" so you know "soaring" must modify something else--in this case, the "condor."

So yes, answer is (A).

GMATPILL,
I got a similar sentence from og12, but with adverbial modifier


Although various eighteenth and nineteenth-century American poets had professed an interest in Native American poetry and had pretended to imitate Native American forms in their own works, until almost 1900,scholars and critics did not begin seriously to study traditional Native American poetry in native languages.

Until Almost 1900 => adverbial modifier
Scholars and critics did not ....=> main sentence (INDEPENDENT CLAUSE )
Although...=> Dependent Clause

You wrote that


From you explanation until almost 1900 should modify verb of the main sentence (Did not begin) However OG says .until almost 1900 can refer back to the first verb (professed) or forward to the next verb (did not begin)?

In our original sentence why is modifier not positioned to describe sky structurally?
Am I missing sth?

even two modifiers back to back does are causing awkwardness in A.

Option A seems to be right.All the rest seem awkward .

High in the sky, soaring over the foothills that on hot, dry days look like brushed brown suede, the condor attains a majesty that is rare among birds in flight.


Here is my reasoning

High in the sky, soaring over the foothills that on hot, dry days look like brushed brown suede, the condor attains a majesty that is rare among birds in flight "SOARING ..." MODIFIES SKY

The condor, being high in the sky and soaring over foothills that on hot, dry days look like brushed brown suede, attains a rare majesty among birds in flight BEING USAGE IS AWKWARD

The condor, when it is high in the sky and soars over the foothills that on hot dry days look as if they might be brushed dry suede, attains a majesty that is rare among birds in flight GIVES A SENSE AS IF IT ATTAINS... ONLY WHEN IT SOARS

On hot, dry days, when the foothills look like brushed brown suede and the condor, high in the sky, soars over them, it attains a majesty that is rare among birds in flight RUN ON

Attaining a majesty that is rare among birds in flight, high in the sky, the condor soars over foothills that look like brushed brown suede on hot, dry days LOOKS PERFECT

What is wrong with my reasoning above?

Why can't E be the right answer?

Why can't "soaring ..." modify "sky" in A. ?

High in the sky in option E modifies birds in flight, and it is supposed to modify condor. So that`s the reason option E is wrong.

In choice D, 'them' can't be used to describe foothills? I picked up D coz I found it okay.

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