Persistence of Vision, a condition when your eyes bridge the gaps of

Can someone explain why A is wrong and how D is correct?

Hi globaldesi,

Persistence of vision, the condition when your eyes bridge the gaps of darkness between flashes of light, explains the seeming magic produced by the stroboscope, an instrument that appears to freeze the swiftest motions while they are still going on.

'Persistence of vision' means 'the continued or prolonged existence of vision', and it is not a condition but a phenomenon.

a) the condition when your eyes bridge - When is used to refer time/at the time (When the new park opens, I’ll go there every day.)
b) when your eyes bridge - same as A
c) the condition of your eyes bridging - Meaning error - 'Persistence of vision' is not the condition of eyes and 'bridging' is illogically modifying eyes
d) which occurs when your eyes bridge - which is correctly modifying 'persistence of vision' and 'when' is correctly modifying the time 'when Persistence of vision occurs'
e) occurring when your eyes bridge - ',' (comma) + verbing modifier incorrectly modifying a noun


hope it helps.

When necessarily has to refer to time. Neither a condition nor persistence of vision has anything to do with time. The occurrence of a condition on the other hand, occurs at a specific time.

a) the condition when your eyes bridge
b) when your eyes bridge
c) the condition of your eyes bridging --> Sounds very awkward, noun + Prep phrase + verb-ing form
d) which occurs when your eyes bridge --> Which usually modifies the word exactly before it, but can also modify a noun phrase such as "persistence of vision"
e) occurring when your eyes bridge --> here for me the original meaning is lost

On GMAT, when VERBing is preceded by a comma then either it should show be for cause-effect transition or it should provide additional information of the proceeding clause.

For more details check out https://gmatclub.com/forum/usage-of-verb-ing-modifiers-135220.html

OR take it this way:
which modifies immediate antecedent noun and VERBing modifies modifies a verb rather than a noun. Here we don't have a VERB in "Persistence of vision".

In this case it is neither of them so the usage is wrong.

Persistence of Vision is not a condition i gather. Is that the reason option A is wrong? Or the use of when with condition is incorrect? Would "in which" instead of "when" make option A correct?

why e is wrong? pls help

I see both d an e are the same

why e is wrong?, pls, help.
occuring in choice e is not modifying persistence. instead, it is modifying the main clause and this distort the meaning. is that right?

mikemcgarry , egmat

Could you please explain why is E wrong?

Can someone explain why A is wrong and how D is correct?
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We usually fall into these traps because we are actually habituated to talking like this. Persistence of vision, is a phenomenon and not a condition, but since we talk in the same manner, neither our ears nor our brain can catch or understand the literal change in meaning that occurs. "The condition of our eyes bridging"...it is not clear enough that is it the eyes or the condition that bridges the gap. "Condition although is not the right word..it could be "phenomenon" or "is the situation when" ...in my understanding.

Hence, C for which I did opt for is not right. It should be D.

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‘when’ in A and B is wrong. C is very awkward. E changes the meaning just a little bit, from explaining that Persistence of vision is a condition where your eyes bridge… to just saying that Persistence of vision is when your eyes bridge…’ So D is correct.

I wish I could downgrade this question.

Why did you highlight "when" in A) and B)? It's used in D) as well?
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GMATNinjaTwo sayantanc2k

Hi guys,

I was wondering could one of you please explain why option A is wrong? I understand the reasoning behind option D (which can jump over the preposition phrase and modify the noun preceding it); however, I am not able to understand why option A is incorrect. Is it incorrect because of "when"? If so, could you please explain why? Would greatly appreciate it!

I am not sure why option A is wrong. I see a proper appositive modifier here.

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the meaning of sentence changes if we go with E. The actual sentence is trying to let us know that its a phenomenon i.e "Persistence of vision, which occurs when..., explains ...." - this means the phenomenon occurs and also explains something. While going with E only suffices the statement upto first comma only.

Hi GMATNinjaTwo, aragonn, sudarshan22, GMATNinja, generis, hazelnut, Vyshak , @Daag

Could you please help me understand why E is wrong ?

As it seems, the ing modifier is correctly modifying the subject(Persistence of Vision) but there seems to be a change in meaning, but i am unable to understand.

Hello sir/expert,
Would you like to pay attention to this question and throw some light on D and E?
In D, what does “which” refer to? -Persistence of vision OR vision? And is it ambiguous?
In E, can comma+V-ing modify a noun? I think it can cuz I have seen this usage in other questions. If so, where is E wrong? Thanks.

Hello Mavisdu1017,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, Option E incorrectly uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "occurring" in this sentence) to refer to a statement of universal fact; remember, statements of universal fact are best conveyed through the simple present tense.

Further, in Option D "which" refers to "Persistence of vision", and present participles can, indeed, modify nouns.

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