Ryunosuke Akutagawa‘s knowledge of the literatures of Europe, China

Maybe this post (from earlier in the thread) will help?

https://gmatclub.com/forum/ryunosuke-ak ... l#p2301683

GMATNinja

Hey I have this one doubt regarding verb-ing that keeps nagging me. Whenever verbing comes after a comma it is effect/result of the cause. And it should be modifying the verb. In option C is "informing" the effect/result of the action of the verb?

Can you please shed some light on it. I am having a hard time understanding the role of verb-ing modifiers?

There's no concrete rule that says a verb-ing after a comma MUST describe an effect or result. Even if it is true, this so-called rule is inherently vague. For example, you could probably argue that the "informing" part was indeed a "result" of the fact that Akutagawa's knowledge was instrumental.

A simpler and safer approach is to simply ask yourself whether the "verb-ing" can logically modify or describe the preceding clause. In this case, the "informing" part certainly tells us more about how Akutagawa's knowledge was instrumental, so it's perfectly reasonable to say that the "informing" part modifies (or describes or qualifies) the main clause. That's really the only test that an "-ing" modifier needs to pass.

I hope that helps!