Re: Emily Dickinsons letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were

Hi WaterFlowsUp,

Let me try to explain the function of verb-ing modifiers when preceded by a comma.

When a verb-ing modifier appears after a clause and is preceded by a comma, then it modifies the action of the preceding clause. It modifies the action of the preceding clause in two ways:
1.By presenting the HOW aspect of the preceding action
2.By presenting the result of the preceding action

Now lets analyze the usage of comma + outnumbering in the official sentence.

Emily Dickinsons letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susans marriage to Emilys brother and ending shortly before Emilys death in 1886, outnumbering her letters to anyone else.

So ED wrote letters to SHD. Comma + outnumbering modifies the preceding action were written. Since this modifier has two functions, lets see which one fits here.
EDs letters were written to SHAD by outnumbering her letters to anyone else. This modification suggests that ED wrote letters to SHD by outnumbering her letters to anyone else. This seems to be an action done deliberately. But this is not logical.

Now lets check the second usage. EDs letters were written SHD and as a result of this action, the letters outnumbers EDs letters to anyone else. Do we really have a cause-effect here? Certainly not. None of the functions done by the comma + verb-ing modifier makes sense in this sentence. This is the reason why Choice A is incorrect.

You may read the following articles to know more about the comma + verb-ing modifiers:

usage-of-verb-ing-modifiers-135220.html
verb-ing-modifiers-part-2-in-our-first-article-on-verb-ing-135567.html
verb-ed-modifiers-vs-verb-ing-modifiers-125611.html

Also, this concept is covered in our Free Concepts. You can register on e-gmat for free and access this concepts along with many others. All these concepts have pre-assessment and post assessment quizzes through which you can gauge your knowledge of these concepts. So click on the free trial button and start learning for free.

Thanks.
Shraddha