The cameras of the Voyager II spacecraft detected six small previously

eliminate sentences using which as it doesnot refer to a noun before it..

known to orbit is better than known as orbitting..

+1 B
A, C, E are incorrect as "which" doesn't refer to a noun.
D: known "as orbiting.." is awkward.

Cross off A, C and E right away because the usage of "which" modifies Uranus.
Known as orbiting is wordy and awkward

Correct answer B - 54 secs :D

mikemcgarry carcass GMATNinjaTwo chetan2u

If the sentence excluded the part ~previously unseen moons circling Uranus~ then in that case the usage of WHICH would have been correct? Am i right as then the use of which would directly refer to the the cameras.

Please ignore the meaning of the sentence, i just want my doubt of using WHICH to be clarified here.

Please help here.

Thanks in advance

hi..

let me clear the modifier issue than will get back to the specific Q..

1) The modifier which doubles to twelve the number of satellites now known as orbiting the distant planet. has to modify the entire outcome of the previous clause and NOT cameras. That is WHY we require an ING modifier..
2) Now to the Q of using WHICH, it is completely wrong here. But say for some reason you wanted this to modify CAMERA then the modifier has to be placed next to the prepositional modifier as shown below..

The camera of Voyager, WHICH........,
here the modifier can modify camera or voyager depending on what the modifier talks of and is CORRECT

Dear siddyj94,

I'm happy to respond.

I see that my brilliant colleague chetan2u already gave a good response. I will just add a couple more thoughts.

The word "which" is a pronoun, a relative pronoun. As with any pronoun, the antecedent must be a noun. Thus, a clause beginning with "which" must be noun modifying clause, an adjectival clause. It never can modify a verb or an action.

Here, what "doubles to twelve the number of satellites now known"? It's not the "camera," the noun. It's the action of "detecting." It's always a classic GMAT SC mistake when a sentence uses a pronoun to refer to an action.

Now, let's be clear about proper terminology. What people call the "-ing modifier" is properly known as the present participle. I believe that it's sloppy to refer to this as the "-ing form," because it leads to confusion between the role of participles and that of gerunds. See:
The –ing Form of a Verb

Participles are truly extraordinary because they can function either as noun modifiers or verb modifiers. Noun modifiers are subject to the Modifier Touch Rule, but verb modifiers are considerably more free in their placement. Thus, the intervening phrase "previously seen orbiting Uranus" is irrelevant and makes no difference to the modification in the sentence.

Does all this make sense?
Mike

egmat

Shouldn't the -ing verb modifier make sense with the noun of the sentence ?

Eg. Joe became the CEO of the company, increasing his pay substantially- Joe didnt increase his pay, so the sentence can be written as
Joe became the CEO of the company, an event that increased his pay substantially.

I don't know what you're asking but here I can help you if you want

The "which" kind of refers to Uranus in the question

We donot want that, we want to refer to the action hence we went on in ing form the only acceptable form

Now, as for as orbiting v to orbit

"TO Orbit" is an infinitive and is idiomatically correct

However "AS Orbiting" suggests that moons have a different name and is awkward

Look at this construction

Moons are known to orbit the planet

v

Moons are known as orbiting planet


the latter suggests that Moon are known by the name orbiting planet
However, it is clearly an action hence the infinitive

For a better understanding of this topic, though it involves lot of literature, You can refer to this link for same question

https://gmatclub.com/forum/verb-ing-mod ... l#p1214284

i suggest don't go in so much grammer and rules, Have learnt from test takers who have given recently that GMAT is testing more of meaning and logic rather than these crammed rules. They can help you eliminate 1-2 options not more.



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Kudos if you find it helpful

(A) which doubles to twelve the number of satellites now known as orbiting
(1) What “doubles to twelve the number of satellites now known as orbiting the distant planet?” The camera’s detection. The “which” clause seems to be modifying “Uranus.” This is illogical. “Uranus” did not double to twelve the number of satellites; (2) “known as” vs. “known to”; “known as” = named – e.g., “We know him AS “Reggie.” – correct; “We known her AS brilliant.” – incorrect [TY @MGMAT]

(B) doubling to twelve the number of satellites now known to orbit
Best option

(C) which doubles to twelve the number of satellites now known in orbit around
(1) What “doubles to twelve the number of satellites now known as orbiting the distant planet?” The camera’s detection. The “which” clause seems to be modifying “Uranus.” This is illogical. “Uranus” did not double to twelve the number of satellites; (2) “in orbit around” is redundant

(D) doubling to twelve the number of satellites now known as orbiting
(1) “known as” vs. “known to”; “known as” = named – e.g., “We know him AS “Reggie.” – correct; “We known her AS brilliant.” – incorrect [TY @MGMAT]

(E) which doubles to twelve the number of satellites now known that orbit
(1) What “doubles to twelve the number of satellites now known as orbiting the distant planet?” The camera’s detection. The “which” clause seems to be modifying “Uranus.” This is illogical. “Uranus” did not double to twelve the number of satellites.

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