<p>1) A great gray owl (flying low) across a forest clearing, its (wings beating) quietly and its ultrasensitive ears tuned to the (faint sounds) made by small (creatures concealed) under leaves.(NE)
Ok, answer is A as both clauses are dependent clause. Why isn't " beating" parallel with "tuned"? Is their something going on that i have no idea of.
2)(Determined) to make a name (for herself) (as a writer) of short stories, Helen never submits anything to an editor until (revising) it several times. (NE)
Answer is d. How do u find out modifier errors like this one, guys??</p>
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<p>It is, sort of. Both are instances of noun + participle. In both cases the participial phrase functions as an adjective. The difference is that beating is a present participle in the active voice and tuned is a past participle in the passive voice. No other combination would make sense. “tuning” would shift the voice to active. “being tuned” would shift the tense to present, but that would be inaccurate. The beating is continuous, but the tuning only happens once, and it needs to have already happened before the ears can listen for the small animals.</p>
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<p>You need to compare the tenses here. In the incorrect version, both the submitting and the revising happen simultaneously in the present. (“submit” is a true verb, “revising” is a participle, but the difference doesn’t really matter.) Because the “revising” has to happen BEFORE the “submitting,” “revising” needs to be in the past tense. It could be in verb or participle form; again, it doesn’t really matter.</p>
<p>The real answer to your question is that you need to be an experienced reader. I can analyze the sentences like I did because I know all the grammar jazz (occupational hazard) but that’s not how I knew what was right and wrong. I just knew it automatically, because my ears told me so. That comes with experience. If you don’t have time to squeeze 5+ years of intense reading into your life before the test, you just need to look at as many of these practice questions as possible.</p>
<p>Thanks for answering.
For 2nd one. Other grammar gurus were saying it was a misplaced modifier. Like who was rivising? Editor or helen. </p>
<p>It’s easy to show that the other gurus are misguided. The sentence “Helen never submits anything until revising it several times” is also wrong, even though there is no ambiguity. But my explanation above still applies.</p>