Using a light meter, proper exposure of photographic film can be ensur

Hello, jim441. The short answer is that the original sentence suffers from a dangling participle. Whenever you see an introductory -ing (or -ed) phrase, you should be asking yourself who or what is performing the action within that phrase. That noun should appear immediately after the comma. Now, look at the first part of the original sentence again:

Can exposure use a light meter? Of course not. But the grammatical structure of the sentence suggests as much. Notice how answer choice (E) rectifies this error:

Can a photographer use a light meter? You bet. If the rest of the sentence checks out, then (E) makes a compelling case.

If modifiers are proving tricky for you, I would recommend checking out the appropriate sections of GMAT Ninja's Sentence Correction Resource Collection.

Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

Intended meaning: Using a light meter the subject can ensure proper exposure of photo in any light condition

A. Using a light meter, proper exposure of photographic film can be ensured in any light conditions. - Dangling modifier error: Using a lightmeter, (who? missing subject/doer) ensures proper exposure...
B. Proper exposure of photographic film can be ensured in any light conditions, using a light meter. - Same issue of dangling modifier "using a light meter" has no doer mentioned
C. Ensuring proper exposure of photographic film in any light conditions, a photographer can use a light meter. - Meaning change: While ensuring proper exposure the photographer can use light meter? no. The lightmeter is to be used to ensure the exposure
D. In any light conditions, proper exposure of photographic film can be ensured using a light meter by a photographer. - I admit this sentence was among my last two contenders. It is just a bit off from the meaning. It says: In any light conditions, ____can be done by the photographer. It doesnt quite bring out the guarantee about the lightmeter. The shift in focus from the lightmeter is fixed in the next option.

E. Using a light meter, a photographer can ensure proper exposure of photographic film in any light conditions. - Ding!Ding!Ding! Correct

Hi AndrewN , I found E to be a much better choice but just curious about D.
D. In any light conditions, proper exposure of photographic film can be ensured using a light meter by a photographer
Please share why you feel that is incorrect.

Thanks in advance!

Hello, StringArgs. The latter part of answer choice (D) is a garbled mess. If the sentence wants to adopt a passive verb tense, that is fine, but we would expect by to follow the verb—ensured by—not to be tucked away in the middle of a phrase. Can be ensured using a light meter by? I am not sure what that means to convey. I think a better sentence would use if in this sort of context: can be ensured if a photographer uses a light meter. But of course, we have to go by what we see on the screen, and (D) is inferior to (E) just about any way you look at it.

Thank you for following up.

- Andrew

Hello StringArgs,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, Option D alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "can be ensured using a light meter by a photographer"; the construction of this phrase seems to imply that proper exposure can be ensured by anyone if a photographer uses a light meter - that is, if this sentence can be said to make any sense at all; we could just as easily say that this construction produces an incoherent meaning - the intended meaning is that proper exposure can be ensured by a photographer through the use of a light meter.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Official Explanation:

Read the Original Sentence Carefully, Looking for Errors:

The sentence as written contains an introductory modifying phrase that is used improperly, since the sentence seems to indicate that "proper exposure" can use a light meter.

Scan and Group the Answer Choices:

To scan here, follow the "light meter" throughout the answer choices. Only (C), (D), and (E) place the phrase near "photographers" (who are presumably using the meter).

Eliminate Wrong Answer Choices:

Choices (A) and (B) do not fix the original error. Eliminate them.

Choice (C) is confusing—it seems to say that a photographer can use a light meter after ensuring proper exposure—and is thus not correct.

Choice (D) uses the awkward phrase "using a light meter by a photographer" and is therefore incorrect.

Only (E), the correct choice, makes it clear that a photographer is using the light meter and does so in a stylistically sound way that expresses the meaning of the sentence.

TAKEAWAY: Keep in mind that a sentence in which a modifying phrase is not placed close to the thing it modifies can be corrected by moving the phrase or what is being modified—or even moving both.