A spin on OG to clarify concept

[ParthJ26]

Hi Sage/Stacey.

Hope you are well. With the forum's help, I have gained confidence to solve modifier question, but there is a concept I want to clarify.

1. CLAUSE, ING MODIFIER

1. About 2 million acres in India have been invaded by parsnip, a herbaceous plant from Nepal, with milky sap, that gives mouth sores to cattle and displaces grasses and other cattle food, rendering rangeland worthless.

I'll try to further strip down the sentence:

---> 2 million acres have been invaded by parsnip, a plant that gives mouth sores to cattle and displaces grasses and other cattle food, rendering rangeland worthless.

My Question:

Does the COMMA + ING modifier "rendering rangeland worthless" attach itself to the relative clause "that gives mouth sores to cattle and displaces grasses and other cattle food"

OR

Does the COMMA + ING modifier "rendering rangeland worthless" attach itself to the main clause "2 million acres have been invaded by parsnip."

In other words, does the adverbial modifier modify the relative clause to which it is closely attached OR does it modify the main clause to which it is attached?

A SIMILAR QUESTION:

1. Excavators say the discovery of shards indicates that the development of a Romanian writing system, using inscribed seals impressed into clay for marking ownership, occurred many decades earlier than was previously believed.

My Question:

Does the COMMA + ING modifier "using inscribed seals impressed into clay for marking ownership" attach itself to the sub-ordinate clause "that the development of a Romanian writing system occurred many decades earlier than was previously believed." ?

OR

Does the COMMA + ING modifier "using inscribed seals impressed into clay for marking ownership" attach itself to the to the main clause "Excavators say the discovery of shards indicate" ?

In other words, does the adverbial modifier modify the sub-ordinate clause to which it is closely attached OR does it modify the main clause to which it is attached?

Thanks for your help in advance.

Parth Jain

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

This is a tricky and complicated area of grammar - grammarians write PhDs and have long debates over such issues - so I'd warn you not to spend too much time considering details and rules that won't help your GMAT.

The easiest test to apply here is one of meaning. What, to be logical, is the comma - ing phrase modifying? In the first case, what renders the rangeland worthless? And, in the second, what is it that uses inscribed seals? Answer these questions and you'll see that comma -ing modifiers are actually quite subtle and sometimes modify nouns not clauses.

Sometimes observing correct GMAT answers is more beneficial than trying to get your head around complicated grammar rules.