SC adverbial modifiers

[CHUNX638]

6th Guide 8, Chapter 4, there are some examples about adverbial modifiers:
1. The team attends staff meetings on Mondays.
2. The engineer fixed the problem, earning himself a promotion.
3. Exhilarated by the successful product launch, the team celebrated after work.

I have some questions about the content the adverbial modifiers modify:
1. in the book, "on Mondays" modifiers "team attends"(the whole clause, right?).
if the underline part can modify the whole clause "The team attends staff meetings"?

2. in the book, "earning himself a promotion" modifiers "engineer fixed the problem"(the whole clause, right?).
if the underline part can modify "The engineer"?

3. in the book, "Exhilarated by the successful product launch" modifiers "team celebrated".
if the underline part can modify the whole clause the whole clause "the team celebrated after work"(or just "team celebrated after work")?

I always can't figure out what the modifiers modify, can you help me?
Thank you very much!

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Modifiers can be confusing and are probably the most complicated part of grammar that GMAT tests. For that reason, I'd keep things simple and remind yourself that you don't need to be an expert grammarian to succeed on this test - you just need to identify certain kinds of grammatical and logical errors in sentence construction. I encourage you to think of modifiers as giving extra information about part of the sentence.

1. in the book, "on Mondays" modifiers "team attends"(the whole clause, right?).
if the underline part can modify the whole clause "The team attends staff meetings"?

The basic subject-verb relationship here is 'the team attends'. What does the team attend? Modifier: staff meetings. When does the team attend staff meetings? Modifier: on Mondays. Whether you say that 'on Mondays' modifies the whole clause or just the verb really doesn't matter.

2. in the book, "earning himself a promotion" modifiers "engineer fixed the problem"(the whole clause, right?).
if the underline part can modify "The engineer"?

Here, the phrase 'earning himself a promotion' modifies the action of fixing the problem. It's a consequence of the first clause (as comma -ing modifiers often are). Look at these examples and explain which are correct:
1. Juan, falling on the street, broke his arm.
2. Juan, who fell on the street, broke his arm.
3. Juan, loving pasta, broke his arm.
4. Juan, who loves pasta, broke his arm.

3. in the book, "Exhilarated by the successful product launch" modifiers "team celebrated".
if the underline part can modify the whole clause the whole clause "the team celebrated after work"(or just "team celebrated after work")?

I can't see a significant difference here, but perhaps you made a typo and are asking the same question as the noun modifier vs. adverbial modifier issue above.

[CHUNX638]

Here, the phrase 'earning himself a promotion' modifies the action of fixing the problem. It's a consequence of the first clause (as comma -ing modifiers often are). Look at these examples and explain which are correct:
Juan, falling on the street, broke his arm.
Juan, who fell on the street, broke his arm.
Juan, loving pasta, broke his arm.
Juan, who loves pasta, broke his arm.

I think the first one is correct. J hurt his arm as a consequence of falling on the street.
But the second one is wrong? I mean, both meaning and structure are correct, right? Also I think the first one is better.

3. in the book, "Exhilarated by the successful product launch" modifiers "team celebrated".
if the underline part can modify the whole clause the whole clause "the team celebrated after work"(or just "team celebrated after work")?

I can't see a significant difference here, but perhaps you made a typo and are asking the same question as the noun modifier vs. adverbial modifier issue above.

I want to ask if the grammatical rules of present participle modifiers also apply to past participle modifiers?

So, it's unnecessary for me to figure out what adverbial modifiers modify(adj,., prepositional phrases, clauses...)? How can I judge the adverbial modifiers modify right things?

Thank you very much!

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

1. Juan, falling on the street, broke his arm.
2. Juan, who fell on the street, broke his arm.
3. Juan, loving pasta, broke his arm.
4. Juan, who loves pasta, broke his arm.

The point here is that the NOUN, which modifier is good for giving separate information, but the CLAUSE, -ing modifier gives information connected to the action. So sentences 1 and 4 are correct; sentences 2 and 3 are incorrect.

I want to ask if the grammatical rules of present participle modifiers also apply to past participle modifiers?
So, it's unnecessary for me to figure out what adverbial modifiers modify(adj,., prepositional phrases, clauses...)? How can I judge the adverbial modifiers modify right things?

I suggest that you look up this section in the All the Verbal guide, and perhaps All the Verbal Companion too. Remember that you don't have to be a grammar expert to succeed on SC; you just need to be able to spot certain types of errors in sentences.