Hi Stacey,

First of, I want to thank you for all your help.

I have a question about verbs

I have read your post saying that an 'ing' form functions as a verb only if comes after a to be form of verb eg - I am swimming, here swimming is a verb

However I read an explanation in MGMAT CAT which reads as below.. How come accepting is functioning as averb?

Instead of accepting the conventional wisdom that the earth was flat, Christopher Columbus sailed west to see whether he could reach India, having been sent by the king and queen of Spain.


(E) This choice begins with "instead of," which is incorrectly used to compare the verbs “accepting” and “sailed.” When comparing verbs, “rather than” is the correct choice. Even if “instead of” were correct, the construction "X instead of Y" requires parallelism between X and Y, but this choice pairs an active verb ("accepting") with a passive one ("was sent"). Finally, the use of "if" in this context is incorrect. On the GMAT, "if" is used only to introduce conditional clauses (e.g. “if X, then Y”). Here, "whether" should be used instead of “if” to indicate uncertainty about reaching India by traveling west.

Is 'accepting' functioning as a present participle here?

Thanks

Hi, could you please post all of the answer choices? It looks like you posted the original sentence and the explanation for (E), but it would be helpful to actually see choice (E).

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Emily Sledge
Instructor
ManhattanGMAT