Scientists have recently discovered that

by **maren.j13** Wed May 26, 2010 10:10 pm

Scientists have recently discovered that the ultrathin, layered construction of a butterfly's wings, the same as the one making some butterflies shimmer via the phenomenon of iridescence, are enabling the insect to control how much heat energy is absorbed by its wings and how much is reflected away.

A. wings, the same as the one making some butterflies shimmer via the phenomenon of iridescence, are enabling
B. wings, which is the same one that makes some butterflies shimmer via the phenomenon of iridescence, that also enables
C. wings is the same as the one that makes some butterflies shimmer via the phenomenon of iridescence, enabling
D. wings"”the same construction that makes some butterflies shimmer via the phenomenon of iridescence"”also enables
E. wings"”of the same construction that makes some butterflies shimmer via the phenomenon of iridescence"”also enable

I chosed C, but that is not the correct answer.
When I stare at C for some time, I found 2 possible errors.

1. "same as the one" is wordy.
2. What does "enabling" modifies? It modifies the whole previous clause, which means that it is the "discovery of scientists that ..." enables the insect to control "how much heat energy ...".

Are these errors correct ?

by **manjeet.singh** Thu May 27, 2010 1:13 pm

I don't think we can rule option c out on the basis of "same as the one" is wordy.
However...
second error you specified seems correct as
, enabling is modifying the entire clause and is not conveying the right meaning

D seems to be the right option
as it conveys the right meaning

what is OA?

by **pradeepkaushal9518** Fri May 28, 2010 9:19 am

D must be the answer

by **maren.j13** Fri May 28, 2010 9:38 pm

Hi Ron,

Can you comment on this ?

OA is D.

~M

by **RonPurewal** Wed Jun 16, 2010 6:34 am

maren.j13 Wrote:
1. "same as the one" is wordy.

possibly.
do note that wordiness, by itself, is never the only problem with an answer choice -- but its presence often reliably indicates that there are other errors in the answer that contains the wordiness.

2. What does "enabling" modifies? It modifies the whole previous clause, which means that it is the "discovery of scientists that ..." enables the insect to control "how much heat energy ...".

yeah. this is the bigger issue.

first, when a COMMA + -ING modifier is applied to a complex construction such as this one, it is USUALLY applied to the nearest clause -- even if that clause is embedded within a subordinate construction.
for instance, if you had the following --
the marquee contains several lights that blink in a predetermined sequence, VERBing...
-- then it's overwhelmingly likely that "comma + VERBing" just modifies "blink in a predetermined sequence", not the whole preceding complex clause. however, you would be wise to check both contexts.

in this case, however, this distinction doesn't really matter, as the comma -ing modifier doesn't make any sense with either of the two preceding clauses.
i.e., "enabling the insect to control how much heat energy is absorbed by its wings and how much is reflected away" is not a property that has anything to do with butterflies, so it doesn't make sense if you apply it to the large preceding clause, and it still doesn't make sense if you apply it to the smaller, embedded clause.

by **maren.j13** Wed Jun 16, 2010 8:57 am

I understand. Many thanks for the clear explanation.

by **akhp77** Wed Jun 16, 2010 11:38 pm

What would be the construction of D.

Scientists have recently discovered that the ultrathin, layered construction of a butterfly's wings"”the same construction that makes some butterflies shimmer via the phenomenon of iridescence"”also enables the insect to control how much heat energy is absorbed by its wings and how much is reflected away.

Is all red part a modifier?

the ultrathin also enables the insect to control how much heat energy is absorbed by its wings and how much is reflected away.

by **devenh** Thu Jun 17, 2010 7:28 pm

@akhp77, I don't believe your color-coded modifer is correct. I believe the sentence can be broken down as follows:

Scientists have recently discovered that the ultrathin, layered construction of a butterfly's wings"”the same construction that makes some butterflies shimmer via the phenomenon of iridescence"”also enables the insect to control how much heat energy is absorbed by its wings and how much is reflected away.

The green text is the main subject of the sentence and the subject of the subordinate clause after the "that". Notice that "ultrathin, layered" are actually adjectives to describe the subject "construction" and then the modifier is in between the "--" markers. The modifier specifically describes the "construction" of the wings not the wings themselves. Finally, the main verb for the sentence is in blue. Notice the verb "enables" is singular which fits with the singular subject "construction". I was a little thrown off by the word "also" which precedes the verb since I didn't see a verb prior to "enables" but I guess the word "also" does not affect the number of verbs needed in the sentence.

Initially I thought we would have needed two verbs such as:
ie. "I went to the park, but also played basketball"

But, I guess we can use "also" with only one main verb.

by **RonPurewal** Fri Jul 02, 2010 5:07 am

akhp77 Wrote:What would be the construction of D.

Scientists have recently discovered that the ultrathin, layered construction of a butterfly's wings"”the same construction that makes some butterflies shimmer via the phenomenon of iridescence"”also enables the insect to control how much heat energy is absorbed by its wings and how much is reflected away.

Is all red part a modifier?

the ultrathin also enables the insect to control how much heat energy is absorbed by its wings and how much is reflected away.

nope. only the part between the dashes is a modifier.

"ultrathin" and "layered" are both adjectives. normally, when two or more adjectives precede a noun, those adjectives are separated by commas.
the only exception occurs in cases when the adjectives are very short, e.g., "a big red dog". even in those cases, a comma could still be used -- "a big, red dog" -- but it normally wouldn't be used.

so, in determining the main subject and verb of this sentence:

* you can ignore "scientists have recently discovered that" -- this is a 'warmup'

* you can ignore the two adjectives

* you can ignore the prepositional phrase ("of a butterfly's wings")

* you can ignore the modifier between the dashes

so the main subject and verb are "construction" and "enables".

by **rx_11** Wed Dec 29, 2010 9:29 am

Dear instructors,

Could you explain what's wrong with D?

Moreover, why do we use Present progressive in choice A?

Thanks very much!

by **tim** Thu Dec 30, 2010 11:08 pm

dude, if you're not trolling, you're totally posting in the wrong place:

First, you're not allowed to ask what's wrong with D when D is the correct answer. Second, don't ask us why the GMAT chose to use a certain tense in a wrong answer; it is what it is..

by **shyamsundar1.g** Sat Mar 31, 2012 3:13 am

HI All,
I came across this question recently and i have a doubt w.r.t meaning of the modifier enabling.

In the option c , can't i assume "the construction that is same as the one that makes some butterflies shimmer via the phenomenon of iridescence" led to "enabling the insect to control...."

I believe if that meaning is correct then this could be correct answer.

Please clarify.Thanks.

by **RonPurewal** Mon Apr 23, 2012 2:09 pm

shyamsundar1.g Wrote:HI All,
I came across this question recently and i have a doubt w.r.t meaning of the modifier enabling.

In the option c , can't i assume "the construction that is same as the one that makes some butterflies shimmer via the phenomenon of iridescence" led to "enabling the insect to control...."

I believe if that meaning is correct then this could be correct answer.

Please clarify.Thanks.

as discussed in our course and strategy guide, COMMA + verbING modifies the whole action of the preceding clause.
in this answer choice, that interpretation would wrongly imply that this control is a consequence of the iridescent shimmering.

by **divineacclivity** Thu Apr 10, 2014 9:22 pm

RonPurewal Wrote:
shyamsundar1.g Wrote:HI All,
I came across this question recently and i have a doubt w.r.t meaning of the modifier enabling.

In the option c , can't i assume "the construction that is same as the one that makes some butterflies shimmer via the phenomenon of iridescence" led to "enabling the insect to control...."

I believe if that meaning is correct then this could be correct answer.

Please clarify.Thanks.

as discussed in our course and strategy guide, COMMA + verbING modifies the whole action of the preceding clause.
in this answer choice, that interpretation would wrongly imply that this control is a consequence of the iridescent shimmering.

Ron,

I have a question around the same thing.
Is the following sentence wrong?
"The color of the flower is bright yellow, making it look like a small sun from far off."

I thought such a sentence was correct, so, the following looked fine to me too in option C:
Scientists discovered that construction of wings is certain type, enabling...

Please help me understand why the above is wrong. Thank you very much in advance.

by **RonPurewal** Mon Apr 14, 2014 9:35 am

divineacclivity Wrote:I have a question around the same thing.
Is the following sentence wrong?
"The color of the flower is bright yellow, making it look like a small sun from far off."

This sentence makes sense. It's not perfect, in the sense that it's redundant"”the color of the flower isn't yellow; the flower is yellow"”but that's not the focus of the discussion here.

This sentence differs hugely from the one in the problem, though, in that "making it look like a small sun" IS ACTUALLY A CONSEQUENCE OF "is bright yellow". In other words, the __ing modifier correctly does what it's supposed to do: it describes the entire action/clause in the preceding part. It actually makes sense as a modifier.

In this problem, though, the clause and the __ing are two entirely different, independent observations:
1/ The construction makes some butterfiles iridescent.
2/ It allows the butterflies to control heat energy.
Clearly, neither of these is a consequence of the other; more generally, neither makes sense in any way as a modifier of the other.

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