As a result of record low temperatures, the water pipes on the third floor froze,
which caused the heads of the sprinkler system to burst, which released torrents of water into offices on the second floor.
A) which caused the heads of the sprinkler system to burst, which released torrents of water - COMMA + which must be immediately preceded by a NOUN.
B) which caused the heads of the sprinkler system to burst and which released torrents of water - same as A
C) which caused the heads of the sprinkler system to burst, torrents of water were then released - same as A
D) causing heads of sprinkler system to burst, then releasing torrents of water - The agent of a COMMA + VERBing modifier must be the PRECEDING SUBJECT.
Here, the agent of releasing seems to be water pipes, implying that the FROZEN PIPES were RELEASING torrents of water.
The intended meaning is that the SPRINKLER SYSTEM THAT BURST released torrents of water.
E) causing heads of the sprinkler system to burst and release torrents of water - Correct
Here, the main verb is froze.
Conveyed meaning:
When the pipes FROZE, they were responsible for CAUSING the heads of the sprinkler system to burst and release torrents of water.
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1.In option D, we have 2 Verb-ing modifiers(causing and then releasing) in a sequence. Shouldn't these modifiers be connected by AND? I read that two modifiers in a sequence without proper connectors (AND) is incorrect?
2. In the above question, option D will be incorrect even if we add AND because neither the pipes themselves nor the action of freezing of pipes caused the release of water?
causing heads of sprinkler system to burst,
AND then releasing torrents of water -- adding AND makes the sentence better grammatically (though still incorrect logically)
3.In option E,
causing heads of the sprinkler system to burst and release torrents of water
The pipes froze CAUSING 2 things -->
* heads of the sprinkler system to burst
* release torrents of water
But isn't the release of water a consequence of bursting of the heads of the sprinkler system? But here we have put these two in parallel ?
AjiteshArun ,
GMATNinja ,
mikemcgarry ,
egmat ,
sayantanc2k,
DmitryFarber ,
MagooshExpert ,
daagh , other experts- please help
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