Modifiers

[AceTheGM@]

I'm really struggling with the concept of noun modifiers and have a few questions. I think posting the following 4 examples together will help me work through my confusion. I've been re-reading MGMAT's Sentence Correction guide, pages 84-86, and still can't quite grasp why these sentences work.

1.) How come this sentence doesn't produce a modifier issue? I thought that anything after "sky," would have to modify sky.
Their slender bodies sleek and black against the orange sky, the storks circled high above us.

2.) Similarly, I downloaded GMAT Prep's 400 questions and got this SC question: "Naked mole rats form colonies of approximately twenty animals, each of which consists of a single reproductive female and workers that defend her." The correct answer is "each colony consisting" -- but again, I am confused because I thought "each colony consisting" would have to modify "animals." How come "each colony consisting" can modify "animals?"

3.) In this example, I would think the words after "Vir" have to saysomething like "an historic site."
Sculpted boulders found at Lepnski Vir, an example of the earliest monumental art known from central and western Europe, includes 15 figures with human features similar to Upper Paleolithic forms and to Middle Eastern Natufian stone figurines. (Answer: Vir, examples of the earliest monumental art known from central and western Europe, include) Why can the "examples of" phrase modify the place Lepnski Vir, when that phrase does not describe Lepnski Vir?

4.) I believe MGMAT's SC guide, p. 86, provides an example that is similar to the solution ("Unskilled in complex math, Bill did not score well on the exam."), but I don't think this does a great job of explaining why this is correct after reading the examples on p. 84.

[RonPurewal]

In #1 and #4, you're not identifying the modifier correctly.

Consider this sentence:
Walking down the street, I was attacked by a large angry bird.
In this sentence, "Walking down the street" is a modifier, describing what I was doing (describing "I"). The main part of the sentence is the second part.

#1 and #4 are similarly constructed: they begin with modifiers. You're mistakenly identifying the part after the comma as a modifier in these sentences, when in fact the part before the comma is the modifier.

You seem to be assuming that modifiers always come after commas, and never before them. If that's what you are thinking, then you need to re-calibrate your understanding there.

[RonPurewal]

#2 and #3 are already addressed here: post96028.html#p96028

In fact, I think the other thread already contains the exact question you're asking in #3. (Please do not double-post questions.)