As the honeybee's stinger is heavily barbed, staying where it is inser

GMATNinja

Can you please tell the reason why D must be eliminated.

Is it because what exactly results in the act of stinging is not clear with this statement ?

Or are there any other errors in this statement?

(A) As the honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed, staying where it is inserted, this results in the act of stinging causing

(B) As the heavily barbed stinger of the honeybee stays where it is inserted, with the result that the act of stinging causes

(C) The honeybee’s stinger, heavily barbed and staying where it is inserted, results in the fact that the act of stinging causes

(D) The heavily barbed stinger of the honeybee stays where it is inserted, and results in the act of stinging causing

(E) The honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed and stays where it is inserted, with the result that the act of stinging causes

Hi debayan,

This is my response to a PM on this one.

As the honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed, staying where it is inserted, this results in the act of stinging causing the bee to sustain a fatal injury.

(A) As the honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed, staying where it is inserted, this results in the act of stinging causing
(B) As the heavily barbed stinger of the honeybee stays where it is inserted, with the result that the act of stinging causes
(C) The honeybee’s stinger, heavily barbed and staying where it is inserted, results in the fact that the act of stinging causes
(D) The heavily barbed stinger of the honeybee stays where it is inserted, and results in the act of stinging causing
(E) The honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed and stays where it is inserted, with the result that the act of stinging causes

Since the meaning of this sentence is not difficult to understand, let’s evaluate the errors in this sentence:

Error Analysis:
1. There is no antecedent for “this”. Being a pronoun, “this” must refer to a noun, but from the meaning of the sentence, we know that an action results in something.
2. Also, only an action can “result in” something. We cannot say “a thing” “result in” something.
3. Notice the construction of this part “… of stinging causing…”. This is ungrammatical. We can only use a verb-ing word in this construction if it is a modifier.

PoE:

(A) As the honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed, staying where it is inserted, this results in the act of stinging causing: Incorrect for the reasons stated above.

(B) As the heavily barbed stinger of the honeybee stays where it is inserted, with the result that the act of stinging causes: Incorrect. Per this choice, there is no independent clause in the sentence.

(C) The honeybee’s stinger, heavily barbed and staying where it is inserted, results in the fact that the act of stinging causes: Incorrect. It repeats the second error of choice A. Per this choice, the sentence says “The honeybee’s stingers” (a thing) results in something.

(D) The heavily barbed stinger of the honeybee stays where it is inserted, and results in the act of stinging causing: Incorrect. It repeats the third error in the original choice.

(E) The honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed and stays where it is inserted, with the result that the act of stinging causes: Correct.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha.

Hi Shraddha,

I did not understand the 3rd error:
3. Notice the construction of this part “… of stinging causing…”. This is ungrammatical. We can only use a verb-ing word in this construction if it is a modifier.

The part 'act of stinging' is a noun phrase and 'causing' modifies this noun phrase in option D. Could you please explain it little bit more about the usage of the modifier causing.

Regards,
Deepak Patel

GMATNinja

Can you please tell the reason why D must be eliminated.

Is it because what exactly results in the act of stinging is not clear with this statement ?

Or are there any other errors in this statement?

Hi debayan,

This is my response to a PM on this one.

As the honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed, staying where it is inserted, this results in the act of stinging causing the bee to sustain a fatal injury.

(A) As the honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed, staying where it is inserted, this results in the act of stinging causing
(B) As the heavily barbed stinger of the honeybee stays where it is inserted, with the result that the act of stinging causes
(C) The honeybee’s stinger, heavily barbed and staying where it is inserted, results in the fact that the act of stinging causes
(D) The heavily barbed stinger of the honeybee stays where it is inserted, and results in the act of stinging causing
(E) The honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed and stays where it is inserted, with the result that the act of stinging causes

Since the meaning of this sentence is not difficult to understand, let’s evaluate the errors in this sentence:

Error Analysis:
1. There is no antecedent for “this”. Being a pronoun, “this” must refer to a noun, but from the meaning of the sentence, we know that an action results in something.
2. Also, only an action can “result in” something. We cannot say “a thing” “result in” something.
3. Notice the construction of this part “… of stinging causing…”. This is ungrammatical. We can only use a verb-ing word in this construction if it is a modifier.

PoE:

(A) As the honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed, staying where it is inserted, this results in the act of stinging causing: Incorrect for the reasons stated above.

(B) As the heavily barbed stinger of the honeybee stays where it is inserted, with the result that the act of stinging causes: Incorrect. Per this choice, there is no independent clause in the sentence.

(C) The honeybee’s stinger, heavily barbed and staying where it is inserted, results in the fact that the act of stinging causes: Incorrect. It repeats the second error of choice A. Per this choice, the sentence says “The honeybee’s stingers” (a thing) results in something.

(D) The heavily barbed stinger of the honeybee stays where it is inserted, and results in the act of stinging causing: Incorrect. It repeats the third error in the original choice.

(E) The honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed and stays where it is inserted, with the result that the act of stinging causes: Correct.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha.

As the honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed, staying where it is inserted, this results in the act of stinging causing the bee to sustain a fatal injury.

(A) As the honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed, staying where it is inserted, this results in the act of stinging causing

(B) As the heavily barbed stinger of the honeybee stays where it is inserted, with the result that the act of stinging causes

(C) The honeybee’s stinger, heavily barbed and staying where it is inserted, results in the fact that the act of stinging causes

(D) The heavily barbed stinger of the honeybee stays where it is inserted, and results in the act of stinging causing

(E) The honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed and stays where it is inserted, with the result that the act of stinging causes

When you see: CLAUSE + COMMA + PREPOSITION, the prepositional phrase can modify the entire previous clause, the same way an "-ing" modifier could. For example:

"Tim juggled torches to entertain his neighbors, with the result that much of the neighborhood is now on fire."

"With the result that" modifies the previous clause about Tim juggling torches. Makes sense.

As for your question, if we begin the second clause with "therefore," the meaning will be more or less the same, but the grammar is slightly different. For example:

"Tim juggled torches to entertain his neighbors; therefore, much of the neighborhood is now on fire."

Notice that now we need a semicolon to separate the two clauses, since the second clause could stand on its own as a complete sentence, but the idea conveyed is similar to the previous example.

I hope that helps!

CLAUSE + COMMA + PREPOSITION : the prepositional phrase can modify the entire previous clause


What if without COMMA.. PREPOSITION ?

ExpertsGlobal5

I go watching cinema with her…
With her modifies the verb, doesn’t it?

Posted from my mobile device

Hello Tanchat,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, yes; here, "with her" is an adverbial phrase that conveys additional information about the action of "watching".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Hi ExpertsGlobal5

but according to your response, "without a comma, the prepositional phrase would not refer to the entire preceding clause; if the phrase directly follows a noun, it will refer to the noun, and if the phrase directly follows a verb, it will modify just that verb." and my example, "with her" modifies the verb rather than the noun. Thus, it can modify everything in the clause as long as the meaning does make sense, am I correct?

Hi ExpertsGlobal5

Last question
Could you pls elaborate this "with"

Starfish, with anywhere from five to eight arms, have a strong regenerative ability, and if one arm is lost it quickly replaces it, sometimes by the animal overcompensating and growing an extra one or two.

(B) one arm is lost it is quickly replaced, with the animal sometimes overcompensating and