In January 1994 an oil barge ran aground off the coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, leaking its cargo of 750000 gallons into the ocean, while causing the pollution of the city's beaches.
A) leaking its cargo of 750000 gallons into the ocean, while causing the pollution of
B) with its cargo of 750000 gallons leaking into the ocean, and it polluted
C) and its cargo of 750000 gallons leaked into the ocean, polluting
D) while it leaked its cargo of 750000 gallons into the ocean and caused the pollution of
E) so that its cargo of 750000 gallons leaked into the ocean, and they were polluting

Tutors - Please correct my approach.

Rhetorical Construction; Logical Prediction
Meaning: The subject of the sentence is "oil barge". It "ran" aground and "leaked". This caused pollution of the city's beach.

a) The participle "leaking" modifies the entire previous main clause - "an oil barge ran aground off the coast of SJ" - leaking.
A present participle before a comma modifies the subject of the precious clause OR the entire previous clause. Correct?
This is not the intended meaning.
Moreover, "while causing" is awkwardly placed. This clause seems like a run-on.

b) with its cargo of 750000 gallons leaking into the ocean - Tense problem. Moreover, in "and it polluted" - it illogically refers to "oil barge". The leaking of oil caused pollution not the oil barge.

c) CORRECT. "its" correctly refers to oil barge. Parallel structure: oil barge "ran" and cargo "leaked" - polluting...

d) while it (oil barge) leaked its cargo of 750000 gallons into the ocean. It is illogical to say oil barge performing this action of leaking by itself. Again, "oil barge" can not "cause the pollution of ..."

e) the use of "so that" incorrectly means oil barge ran aground off the coast ON PURPOSE so that its cargo of 750000 gallons leaked into the ocean. Moreover, "they" lacks correct antecedent. Also, "were polluting" is wrong tense.

OA: C (GmatPrep Exam)

Kindly explain the hidden errors in option A, B and D.

hi -

we don't usually cross-post to other forums, but we have been so overwhelmed with posts lately that i'm going to refer you to another thread, from another forum, on which i wrote a great deal about this problem.

http://www.beatthegmat.com/oil-leak-t38670.html
i've written a LOT about this problem on that post. go check it out. if you still have questions, post here.

Ron would you please explain the one posted at:

post32613.html#p32613

I have summarized Ron's inputs from Beatthegmat.com



Q4 – GMAT prep test 2 - 2010 - OA = [C]
In January 1994 an oil barge ran aground off the coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, leaking its cargo of 750000 gallons into the ocean, while causing the pollution of the city's beaches.

1. "While" indicates simultaneous events. “Causing” is a CONSEQUENCE of “Leaking”. Causing/&/ Leaking are not simultaneous. Hence the use of “while” here is in appropriate.
2. After removing WHILE. There is yet another problem. Two back to back, COMMA + participle modifiers are not allowed. Hence remove one.

A) leaking its cargo of 750000 gallons into the ocean, while causing the pollution of
B) with its cargo of 750000 gallons leaking into the ocean, and it polluted
C) In January 1994 an oil barge ran aground off the coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and its cargo of 750000 gallons leaked into the ocean, polluting (participle modifier of subject “Oil Barge”) the city's beaches.[/b]
D) while it leaked its cargo of 750000 gallons into the ocean and caused the pollution of
E) so that its cargo of 750000 gallons leaked into the ocean, and they were polluting

Should we follow this RULE or not.... advise pls

RULE
http://www.beatthegmat.com/oil-leak-t38670.html
no. you can't use two comma+ing modifiers in a row.

RULE - NOT followed here.....
sc-a-study-by-the-ocean-wildlife-campaign-t9398.html

A study by the Ocean Wildlife Campaign urged states to undertake a number of remedies to reverse a decline in the shark population, including establishing size limits for shark catches, closing state waters for shark fishing during pupping season, and requiring commercial fishers to have federal shark permits.

you've processed that sentence incorrectly.

the word "including" introduces a list of three parallel elements:
* establishing size limits for shark catches
* closing state waters for shark fishing during pupping season
and
* requiring commercial fishers to have federal shark permits

so this is not two -ing modifiers in a row; it's one giant -ing modifier, which contains a humongous 3-item parallel structure.
the -ing constructions in the parallel structure are not modifiers at all; they are gerunds (= -ing instructions used as nouns, as in the following sentence: i like swimming).

I do understand that choice c) is the correct answer

can u please provide the reasons due to which choice c ) takes precedence over choice d) ?

* “while” doesn't make sense.
the barge didn't run aground while it was leaking (the use of “while” to show that one action happened during another), and there's also no contrast (the use of “while” to demonstrate contrast).

* the use of “and” as a connector is also inappropriate, since it implies that the two things being connected (leaking oil and causing pollution) are independent.
for instance, traffic was backed up on the freeway and i was late to work implies that i was NOT late because of the traffic.

Thanks Ron !

Thanks!

_________________
Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor

In January 1994 an oil barge ran aground off the coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, leaking its cargo of 750000 gallons into the ocean, while causing the pollution of the city's beaches.

A) leaking its cargo of 750000 gallons into the ocean, while causing the pollution of
B) with its cargo of 750000 gallons leaking into the ocean, and it polluted
C) In January 1994 an oil barge ran aground off the coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and its cargo of 750000 gallons leaked into the ocean, polluting (participle modifier of subject “Oil Barge”) the city's beaches.[/b]
D) while it leaked its cargo of 750000 gallons into the ocean and caused the pollution of
E) so that its cargo of 750000 gallons leaked into the ocean, and they were polluting

--------Hi, This is how I usually attempt SC questions and have found this method to be of good use.------------

First - Read the entire sentence as if it were a story. This helps one to understand what has happened in this story and what were the components. If a ship ran aground in 1994, it leaked oil (has to be leaked because most leaks usually stop from a container with limited amount of oil ;)) also, the pollution caused by such a leak cannot end, Therefore the only logical choice here is (c) - polluting. All the other choices fail to represent the correct combination of leaked, polluting. SIMPLE

we'll thank you not to engage in such pompous affectations in your future posts.

when you refer to a problem as "simple" or "easy" or "obvious", no one wins (least of all you -- this kind of thing makes you look really bad).
please keep in mind that people are posting these problems on the forum and looking for help precisely because they do not find the problems "simple" or "easy".