Having the right hand and arm being crippled by a sniper's bullet during the First World War, Horace Pippin, a Black American painter, worked by holding the brush in his right hand and guiding its movements with his left
(A) Having the right hand and arm being crippled by a sniper's bullet during the First World War
(B) In spite of his right hand and arm being crippled by a sniper's bullet during the First World War
(C) Because there had been a sniper's bullet during the First World War that crippled his right hand and
arm
(D) The right hand and arm being crippled by a sniper's bullet during the First World War
(E) His right hand and arm crippled by a sniper's bullet during the First World War

The source is a post from the GMAT Club forum. The OA is given as E. Instructors, can you please explain, why E is correct. Also to me none of the answer choices seems correct...........

I am getting stuck with possessive poison rule. E says - "His right hand and arm crippled.....". Isn't his a possessive pronoun? If so, according to the possessive poison rule, shouldn't possessive pronouns have only possessive nouns as antecedents? But "Horace Pippin" is not a possessive noun. So how can the 'his' in
"His right hand and arm crippled....." refer to Horace Poppin?

Please please help.

the possessive poison rule says that non-possessive pronouns can't have possessive antecedents.

it does NOT say the reverse. i.e., it does NOT prohibit possessive pronouns from referring to non-possessive nouns; in fact, they do so routinely.

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Being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquillity [that] religion is powerless to bestow.
C.F. Forbes

Thanks for clarifying this ..

Glad it helped.

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Ben Ku
Instructor
ManhattanGMAT

Hi Ron, would you help clarify the process of elimination. Thanks.

Hi there,
Are you able to eliminate any of the answers? Tell us what you were able to cross off, and then we'll help guide you from there. :-)

P.S. I'll give you a hint--"being" is almost never right on the GMAT unless it starts the sentence. That will help you get started.

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Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor

Hi,

I am not sure how 'His right hand and arm crippled by a sniper's bullet during the First World War' --> can modify the noun, which follows it.

What kind of modifier is it, if it is a noun modifier, what is its type?

Can you pls elaborate.

thanks

i'm not sure i understand your question. it sounds like you're already aware that this is a noun modifier from the way you phrased your first paragraph, but then you ask if it's a noun modifier, the answer to which is yes. then you ask what is its type, and the answer is that it is a noun modifier. can you clarify what kind of information you're looking for?

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Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor

Hi,
Why is b wrong? Does it change the meaning or does it have errors that I cant spot?

I have another doubt in understanding option E. Isn't it an example of run on sentence, where two independent sentences are connected by a comma..?

<His right hand and arm crippled by a sniper's bullet during the First World War>, <Horace Pippin, a Black American painter, worked by holding the brush in his right hand and guiding its movements with his left>

(A) Having the right hand and arm being crippled by a sniper's bullet during the First World War
[ the right hand/arm suggests that this hand/arm pair is already qualified somewhere else in the sentence (or universally understood as the only one), in any case it certainly doesn't suggest they belong to horace. like "the Eiffel tower"]
(B) In spite of his right hand and arm being crippled by a sniper's bullet during the First World War
[ "being" should not precede a modifier, but the weird thing is if you remove "being" it doesn't make sense. But in spite of should be followed by a noun, which can have a modifier. I guess the only way this would work is if you turned it into a clause "in spite of the fact that his arm was crippled". experts reply would really help me here!]

(C) Because there had been a sniper's bullet during the First World War that crippled his right hand and arm
[this suggests that he painted because he was crippled]

(D) The right hand and arm being crippled by a sniper's bullet during the First World War
[the vs "his" problem like in A]

no, there is no verb in the first part. remember, -ed and -ing words are most often NOT used as verbs on the GMAT..

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Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor

good point on B. snnadkarni, does this answer your question? you want "in spite of" to be followed by a noun..

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Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor

Hi,

I fail to understand why being should not precede a modifier. Can someone please clarify with an example why this is wrong.
Also from Tim's reply inspite of should be followed by a noun but then, how is that replacing the modifier with a clause help correct the problem.

i'm not sure i agree with the statement about "being", and your second sentence is too full of grammar mistakes for me to figure out what you're asking (or even if you are asking a question). can you please try again with a grammatically correct question that ends in a question mark so it's clear what you're asking?

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Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor