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The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of gr 12 Oct 2019, 22:48
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daagh
A clause joined by the coordinating conjunction is required to have a full working verb, which, choices B, C and D are lacking, by using the incorrect present participial, 'thus forcing"

In E, the time of the disintegration i.e. last year has been placed far distant from the disintegration. We cannot separate last year and disintegration as that choice ends up with a wrong word order.

A is the choice, IMO
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So you are saying C is wrong because it would need IT after and?
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The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of gr 06 Dec 2019, 10:22
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The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of ground- and space-based telescopes provided new insights into how comets form and may thus force a rethinking of the role of comets in the delivery of organic compounds to the evolving Earth.
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Dear experts, daagh generis GMATNinja AjiteshArun
I have highlighted a few doubts in the respective choices. Can you please throw some light on it

(A) The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of ground- and space-based telescopes provided new insights into how comets form and may thus force
- disintegration provided - Subjet-verb = correct
- "provided" and "thus may force" - parallelism is correct
- No other discernible flaws

(B) The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of ground- as well as space-based telescopes, provided new insights into how comets form and thus possibly forcing
- "as well as" and "and" cannot be used interchangeably.
- "thus possibly forcing" is not parallel to provided
- Dear experts please confirm if the understanding is correct -use of comma before "provided" forces provided to behave as a verb-ed modifier - Incorrect
-Wrong

(C) When a comet's spectacular disintegration occurred in full view of ground- and space-based telescopes last year, it provided new insights into how comets form and thus may possibly force
- Dear experts please confirm if this interpretation of the meaning is correct -When something happened it provided = I believe there is a subtle change in the meaning because of the use of "when". When defines time - so IMO, the choice says, say the disintegration occured at 3:00 pm --> the disintegration provided new insights - This changes the meaning
- "may" and "possibly" - redundancy
- Dear experts, is there any difference between "thus may force" and "may thus force"

(D) Last year, in full view of ground- and space-based telescopes, a comet's spectacular disintegration provided new insights into how comets form and thus possibly forcing
- Incorrect meaning
This choice suggests that the insights were provided last year. We do not know when were these new insights generated. It could be these insights were generated this year
- Use of "thus possible forcing" is not parallel with "provided"

(E) Last year, in full view of ground- as well as space-based telescopes, the spectacular disintegration of a comet has provided new insights into how comets form and may thus force
- Meaning error similar to option D
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The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of gr Updated on: 16 Jan 2020, 20:13
Originally posted by Snehaaa on 16 Jan 2020, 01:49.
Last edited by Snehaaa on 16 Jan 2020, 20:13, edited 1 time in total.
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Isn’t “provided” modifying “telescopes” in option A?

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The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of gr 16 Jan 2020, 03:06
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Snehaaa
Isn’t “provided” modifying “telescopes in option A?

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Hi Sneha, provided is the main verb in this sentence and hence, isn't really modifying anything.

The core of the sentence is:

...disintegration provided new insights..
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The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of gr 22 Dec 2020, 12:32
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I do not understand why the parallelism imposed by "and" allows both verbs to be in two different verb tenses: "provided" and "may thus force"?
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The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of gr 23 Dec 2020, 05:56
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Pedro121212
I do not understand why the parallelism imposed by "and" allows both verbs to be in two different verb tenses: "provided" and "may thus force"?
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Hi Pedro121212,

My reply is not specific to this question, but there is no such thing as "tense parallelism". To be more precise, there is no reason to always expect verbs joined by an and to have the same tense. This is actually a meaning call. For example:
He received the memo yesterday and will submit his application tomorrow.

There is nothing wrong with the will submit here.
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The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of gr 25 Jan 2021, 02:15
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The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of ground- and space-based telescopes provided new insights into how comets form and may thus force a rethinking of the role of comets in the delivery of organic compounds to the evolving Earth.

(A) The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of ground- and space-based telescopes provided new insights into how comets form and may thus force Correct answer - no apparent errors.

(B) The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of ground- as well as space-based telescopes, provided new insights into how comets form and thus possibly forcing "provided" is not parallel to "forcing". Eliminate.

(C) When a comet's spectacular disintegration occurred in full view of ground- and space-based telescopes last year, it provided new insights into how comets form and thus may possibly force "provided" is not parallel to "may force". Eliminate.

(D) Last year, in full view of ground- and space-based telescopes, a comet's spectacular disintegration provided new insights into how comets form and thus possibly forcing Same error as in (B). Eliminate.

(E) Last year, in full view of ground- as well as space-based telescopes, the spectacular disintegration of a comet has provided new insights into how comets form and may thus force "Last year" is too far away from "disintegration" which it modifies. Eliminate.

Hope this helps.
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The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of gr 25 Jan 2021, 14:20
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Snehaaa
Isn’t “provided” modifying “telescopes in option A?

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Hi Sneha, provided is the main verb in this sentence and hence, isn't really modifying anything.

The core of the sentence is:

...disintegration provided new insights..
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This confused me, if "ed-verb" is followed after a noun it modifies the preceding noun?
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The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of gr 25 Jan 2021, 15:44
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Snehaaa
Isn’t “provided” modifying “telescopes in option A?

Posted from my mobile device
Hi Sneha, provided is the main verb in this sentence and hence, isn't really modifying anything.

The core of the sentence is:

...disintegration provided new insights..

This confused me, if "ed-verb" is followed after a noun it modifies the preceding noun?
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Hello lakshya14,

I will be glad to help you with this one. :-)

In the original sentence, the word "provided" is NOT a verb-ed modifier. It is the simple past tense for the subject "disintegration". The sentence says the spectacular disintegration of the comet provided new insights. The disintegration provided or gave new insights into something. The disintegration was not provided by anything.

Please go through our very popular article "ED Forms - Verbs or Modifiers" on GMAT Club by clicking on the following link. This article teaches how to distinguish between the simple past tense verb and the verb-ed modifier.
https://gmatclub.com/forum/ed-forms-verbs-or-modifiers-134691.html


Hope this helps. :-)
Thanks.
Shraddha


Hope this helps.
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The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of gr 25 Jan 2021, 15:57
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The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of ground- and space-based telescopes provided new insights into how comets form and may thus force a rethinking of the role of comets in the delivery of organic compounds to the evolving Earth.

(A) The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of ground- and space-based telescopes provided new insights into how comets form and may thus force Correct answer - no apparent errors.

(B) The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of ground- as well as space-based telescopes, provided new insights into how comets form and thus possibly forcing "provided" is not parallel to "forcing". Eliminate.

(C) When a comet's spectacular disintegration occurred in full view of ground- and space-based telescopes last year, it provided new insights into how comets form and thus may possibly force "provided" is not parallel to "may force". Eliminate.

(D) Last year, in full view of ground- and space-based telescopes, a comet's spectacular disintegration provided new insights into how comets form and thus possibly forcing Same error as in (B). Eliminate.

(E) Last year, in full view of ground- as well as space-based telescopes, the spectacular disintegration of a comet has provided new insights into how comets form and may thus force "Last year" is too far away from "disintegration" which it modifies. Eliminate.

Hope this helps.
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Hello Sir,

Great Explanation there. Very precise and to the point. :thumbsup:

However, I would reject Choice C because of the redundancy error due to the usage of "may possibly". Two verbs in two different tenses can very well be parallel if the context allows for the same. The following is an example:

The widely accepted big-bang theory holds that the universe began in an explosive instant 10 to 20 billion years ago and has been expanding ever since.

The Correct answer choice of this sentence also uses the same verbs - "provided" and "may force". Hence, it is evident that there is no issue with the parallelism with these two verbs.


Also, Choice E is incorrect because of the usage of the present perfect tense verb "has provided" because this action took place "Last year". The sentence explicitly says that the action of disintegration took place last year. Hence, the sentence must use the simple past tense verb.


Thanks. :-)
Shraddha
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The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of gr 25 Jan 2021, 22:44
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[quote="kaijen"]The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of ground- and space-based telescopes provided new insights into how comets form and may thus force a rethinking of the role of comets in the delivery of organic compounds to the evolving Earth.


(A) The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of ground- and space-based telescopes provided new insights into how comets form and may thus force



I think "provided" modifier in A only modifying "space-based telescopes", however we need both subjects "The spectacular disintegration of a comet" and "space-based telescopes" to be referred hence we might need comma + ed modifier
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The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of gr 25 Jan 2021, 22:53
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vipulgoel
I think "provided" modifier in A only modifying "space-based telescopes", however we need both subjects "The spectacular disintegration of a comet" and "space-based telescopes" to be referred hence we might need comma + ed modifier
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Hi vipulgoel,

Provided is a verb in option A. You may want to go through these posts.
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The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of gr 19 Jul 2023, 19:44
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Can you please provide detailed solution for this. I rejected A because I thought 'may thus force...' is confusing and it should be 'thus may force...' as used in option C. IMO in option C 'it' refers to disintegration.
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The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of gr 21 Jul 2023, 09:13
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Tanvi01


First, be careful about throwing out answers based on small variations in word order (may thus/thus may) unless you KNOW one of the versions creates an error. If you don't know that one is wrong, treat them both as valid and look for something else.

So what else is there? First, there's a meaning problem with C. Sure, "it" refers to disintegration, which is the subject of A, as well. However, in A the subject is modified, such that the full subject is really EVERYTHING before the verb: the disintegration of the comet IN VIEW OF TELESCOPES." Since C doesn't apply a modifier to the subject, it implies that the disintegration ALONE provided insights, etc. This isn't right.

Also, as others have pointed out, "may possibly" is redundant. There's just no good reason to pick C, and we don't want to let "may thus" put us off A and leave us scrambling for clunky alternatives.
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The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of gr 21 Jul 2023, 09:16
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I should add that we can't eliminate C based on parallelism, as some of the posts above have done. Both A and C use a past tense verb (provided) and a present tense verb phrase (may force). It's okay to make these parallel as long as the meaning makes sense, and it does. (Something happened before, and now something else may happen.) If C weren't parallel, then A wouldn't be, either.
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The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of gr 23 Sep 2023, 04:29
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The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of ground- and space-based telescopes provided new insights into how comets form and may thus force a rethinking of the role of comets in the delivery of organic compounds to the evolving Earth.

(A) The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of ground- and space-based telescopes provided new insights into how comets form and may thus force - AND is a parallel marker. Clause AND Clause - perfect.

(B) The spectacular disintegration of a comet last year in full view of ground- as well as space-based telescopes, provided new insights into how comets form and thus possibly forcing - comma + provided is no longer a verb. Now provided is acting as a verbal modifying the nearest noun i.e. telescopes. So, there is no VERB. The sentence is a fragment.

(C) When a comet's spectacular disintegration occurred in full view of ground- and space-based telescopes last year, it provided new insights into how comets form and thus may possibly force - "it" referring to the act of disintegration - the use of pronoun for action is wrong.

(D) Last year, in full view of ground- and space-based telescopes, a comet's spectacular disintegration provided new insights into how comets form and thus possibly forcing - After AND, we have a phrase. Not parallel.

(E) Last year, in full view of ground- as well as space-based telescopes, the spectacular disintegration of a comet has provided new insights into how comets form and may thus force - last year means past. The use of present perfect for past is wrong.
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