The most widely known images of Yosemite National Park are those made

ِD, E: 'having photographed' modifies the subject of the sentence, i.e. 'images'. This does not make sense. Hence, this modifier is dangling in both sentences.

B, C: 'starting' modifies 'it'

arvind

The adverbial modifier starting with 'having' faultily modifies essentially the doer of the previous clause namely the 'images' as if the images have photographed the park

"From his teenage years on" is like referring to the phrase: "From then on". Except 'then' in this sentence refers to the teenage years.
The word 'then' refers to a specific point in time, which could be in the past or in the future (depends on the context).
The word 'on' refers to the time that follows 'then'

In the sentence, "who photographed it continually from his teenage years on" implies, starting from his teenage years he photographed it continually.

A is just a more concise way of rephrasing C.

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that the most widely known images of Yosemite National Park are those made by the photographer Ansel Adams, and Ansel Adams photographed it continually from his teenage years on.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Modifiers + Awkwardness/Redundancy

A: Correct. This answer choice modifies "Ansel Adams" with "who photographed it...years on", conveying the intended meaning - that the most widely known images of Yosemite National Park are those made by the photographer Ansel Adams, and as a separate action Ansel Adams photographed it continually from his teenage years on. Further, Option A is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

B: This answer choice uses the needlessly wordy phrase "starting from his teenage years and then continually", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

C: This answer choice uses the needlessly wordy phrase "starting in his teenage years and continually from then on", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

D: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "having photographed it continually"; the use of the "comma + present participle ("verb+ing" - "having" in this sentence) incorrectly implies that most widely known images of Yosemite National Park are those made by photographer Ansel Adams because he photographed it continually from his teenage years on; the intended meaning is that the most widely known images of Yosemite National Park are those made by the photographer Ansel Adams, and as a separate action Ansel Adams photographed it continually from his teenage years on; please remember, the introduction of the present participle ("verb+ing"- “opening” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.

E: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "having photographed it starting"; the use of the "comma + present participle ("verb+ing" - "having" in this sentence) incorrectly implies that most widely known images of Yosemite National Park are those made by photographer Ansel Adams because he photographed it continually from his teenage years on; the intended meaning is that the most widely known images of Yosemite National Park are those made by the photographer Ansel Adams, and as a separate action Ansel Adams photographed it continually from his teenage years on; please remember, the introduction of the present participle ("verb+ing"- “having” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship. Further, Option E uses the needlessly wordy phrase "starting in his teenage years and then continually", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

Hence, A is the best answer choice.

Additional Note: Some students may believe that Options B and C are incorrect due to a supposed lack of parallelism between the present participle "starting" and the adverb "continually"; however, this is not the case. In these answer choices, "starting" plays the role of an adverb acting upon the verb "photographed", just as "continually" does. To understand this concept, please consider this example "John jogs every day, starting from his house and continuing for five miles."

To understand the concept of "Comma plus Present Participle for Cause-Effect relationship" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~3 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

What does "on" at the end of the A and C mean?

Can anybody please explain why the rest B-E answers are worse than A except for concision?

THX!

lucbesson,

I arrived at correct answer. My POE is below.

B & C....

who photographed it [national park] starting in his teenage years and ......

For me the list before "and" and after "and" didnt seem parallel

D & E...

I thought had a modifier error....i.e. Having etcc....doesnt provide any additional info about the images or why it was made....

Why IT in all the options? What is it referring to?

Bcos there is nothing else to which "it" can refer to. It must refer to an object.
Another rule is that "it" is never used for a person. A person is usually referred to by "he", "she", "him", "her", etc.

I couldn't connect 'it' to the park . Thought Ansel Adams, who photographed them (images) would have been appropriate?

You photograph something (the park), you take photographs.

"from+ noun+ on" is the idiom we have to know.

starting in b and c have no grammarical position. wrong.
having done in e and d are wrong.

Hi,
I would like to reply your question mostly for incoming fellows.
Initially, I have the same question as you and would dare to choose any answer choice that have plural pronoun instead of "it". But carefully study make me understand "it" refers to "Yosemite National Park", as "Ansel Adams photographed it". Nothing is ambiguous here.
Cheers.

Hi Experts,

In B and C the conjunction AND is not correctly used.

Can you'll please clarify the errors in B and C?

b) who photographed it starting from his teenage years and then continually
c) who photographed it starting in his teenage years and continually from then on

IMO:

In both "starting from his teenage years and then continually" seems to modify "it"(Yosemite National Park) and that is illogical ...
Park can't be in teenager age......

Hi daagh Sir ,

I have one more doubt suppose there in non essential modifier in D before ing modifier , then ing modifier will modify non essential modifier or images in the first clause.

Regards,
Arvind

I do not think that your hypothetical issue can be a grammatical proposition since an adverbial modifier should modify a noun and its action primarily. but it can't modify another modifier unless the other modifier itself happens to be the subject. Can a modifier be the subject?