rohitchayal wrote:
MentorTutoringAlthough observed by graduate student Jocelyn Bell in the summer of 1967, the discovery of the first sighted pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, had not been announced before February, 1968.
In the explanation of the above option it said somewhere that the "although" phrase is modifying discovery which is wrong, I get that.
but "although" is a subordinating conjunction; hence, the clause it follows is a subordinating clause and here it says its acting as a modifier so my question is are subordinating conjunctions modifiers i.e. they not only connect clauses of different priority but also gives additional information about the main clause and should convey related idea about the main clause?
rohitchayal - Ah, I understand the confusion now. The modifier within the phrase is
observed by--the word
although is still serving as a subordinate conjunction, not as a modifier on its own. Modifiers ending in -ing or -ed (followed by "by") are pretty common on the GMAT™, and I like to look at some amusing examples to help students illustrate the differences in meaning. For your own enjoyment:
Running down the street, I feel and hurt my knee.
CorrectRunning down the street, my knee got hurt when I fell.
Incorrect - The sentence can be interpreted as saying that my knee detached itself from my body, took off down the street, and got hurt at the instant I fell, presumably because one of my knees just removed itself from my upright body and caused me to tip over, and then the knee, not I, got hurt at that instant, perhaps through some sort of quantum entanglement.
Powered by a core processor, the computer was one of my favorites.
CorrectPowered by a core processor, I like my computer.
Incorrect - Although people speak this way, the sentence can be interpreted as saying that
I am powered by a core processor, and unless I am an android, that does not make much sense.
Thank you for providing the sentence in question (for everyone to see, which I think is helpful and kudos-worthy). Yes, I think the author of that explanation could have done a better job clarifying what was what to make the point.
Please let me know if you have further questions. I enjoy discussing grammar issues, even if I approach SC questions through a less strict grammatical lens.
- Andrew