CM12
Hi - just wanted to bump this/see if anyone had feedback on this. I reviewed a number of "ing" modifers resources, but am not fully clear on this either. I found it in the example below (sorry, I don't have enough posts yet, to link directly), and my confusion related to this topic is why I picked the wrong answer. Just hoping to clear it up.
About 5 million acres in the United States have been invaded by leafy spurge, a herbaceous plant from Eurasia with milky sap that gives mouth sores to cattle, displacing grasses and other cattle food and rendering rangeland worthless.
The bold part is what I'm referring to. Any assistance is appreciated.
My instinct is that the 'displacing' modifies the 'sap giving mouth sores to cattle.'
"The rock star threw his guitar to a girl in the front row, who learned to play it over years of intense practice, becoming even more talented than the musician who gave it to her."
There's just too much space (and too big a verb) between that comma,--ing and the initial clause to justify the 'jump' to it, I think.
Is that always the case? Probably not:
"They won a huge victory against the team that was expected to win the tournament, sending them to the championship."
I think the 'that' modifier is 'quick enough' that the last modifier can still describe the main clause.