Scientists have recently discovered what could be the largest and oldest living organism on Earth, a giant fungus that is an interwoven filigree of mushrooms and rootlike tentacles spawned by a single fertilized spore some 10,000 years ago and extending for more than 30 acres in the soil of a Michigan forest.

(A) extending
(B) extends
(C) extended
(D) it extended
(E) is extending

In this problem, as I understand, spawned by a single fertilized spore.... and extending for more than 30 acres... are participles used as noun modifiers, modifying fungus. However, according to the strategy guide, "touch rule" should be applicable for noun modifiers. In addition, none of the exceptions to the touch rule seem to be applicable in this case. So, on what basis do we consider these participles modifiers modifying fungus.

Thanks.

This case belongs to Modifiers: exception to the touch rule no 4. One of the modifier doesn't necessarily need to touch the noun. Check page 235 in Manhatten SC 4rth edition.

spawned does not touch the noun fungus. If it had touched, what you just mentioned would have been convincing.

So, I am still not clear.

Tentacles is noun. Spawned by single .....is modifying Tentacles.

Spawned means reproduce. So, I fail to understand how tentacles have spawned[/i]. Logically, fungus should have spawned from the spore and not the tentacles.

Could anyone please respond?

I've seen this question before, and I still got it wrong! Why is answer choice B incorrect? I've read the other posts on this question that say we need a participle, but "...a giant fungus that is .... and extends..." seems to make sense to me. both "is" and "extends" are in the present tense and the both seem to be talking about the same subject which is the "giant fungus"

Using the same logic above, I even considered option E. However, I totally missed that answer A is the correct answer. Once I read the other threads on this question I understand why the participle "spawned" is used for the past event and the present participle "extending" is used for the continuing event, but I just don't understand how I could have deduced that "spawned" and "extending" were supposed to be parallel rather than "is" and "extends".

I hope my question makes sense.

Ok..Let me try to make sense here

a giant fungus that is

an interwoven filigree of

mushrooms
and
rootlike tentacles

spawned by a single fertilized spore some 10,000 years ago
and
extending for more than 30 acres in the soil of a Michigan forest.

So in effect:
a giant fungus that is an interwoven filigree of X & Y and extending for Z

the "touch rule" does not apply to all noun modifiers. in general, it applies to the following noun modifiers:
______, which...
______, who/whom/whose...
also these with prepositions in front (______, to which...; ______, each of whom...; etc.)
NO COMMA + ___ING
COMMA + APPOSITIVE, when the appositive is NOT an abstract noun (see here for the treatment of abstract noun appositives: post35386.html#p35386)

also, the other thing that you've got to realize here is that there are TWO modifiers that follow "filigree":
* "of mushrooms and rootlike tentacles"
* "spawned by a single fertilized spore some 10,000 years ago and extending for more than 30 acres in the soil of a Michigan forest"
since both of these modifiers must follow the noun ("filigree"), it's impossible for both of them to touch that noun. therefore, the second modifier, which is much longer and is of a type that does not necessarily have to obey the touch rule, is displaced so that it follows the first modifier.

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Thanks so much, Ron. This is clear now.

As per your explanation above, spawned modifies filigree.

Isn't "a giant fungus that is an interwoven filigree spawned by a single fertilized spore some 10,000 years ago" wrong? Shouldn't it be an interwoven filigree that is spawned by?

Therefore..
a giant fungus (that is an interwoven filigree of mushrooms and rootlike tentacles) spawned by a single fertilized spore some 10,000 years ago and extending for more than 30 acres in the soil of a Michigan forest.

and hence shouldnt extending modify the fungus..
a giant fungus
* spawned by a single fertilized spore some 10,000 years ago
and
* extending for more than 30 acres in the soil of a Michigan forest.

Thank you

no, the first usage of "spawned" is perfectly correct. it's like this example:
romeo and juliet, a play written by william shakespeare, is studied in most american high schools.
(--> you certainly don't have to say "that was written by...")

also, note that this is an official problem, and that modifier is contained in the official answer. so you already know the answer to your question, since official answers are never wrong.



this distinction is immaterial here, since the fungus and the filigree are exactly the same thing. therefore, it actually doesn't matter which one of them is modified.
in general, though, if you see "an X that is a Y VERBed by...", then "VERBed" tags Y, not X. (note again, though, that this ultimately won't matter very much, since the sentence declares that X is Y.)

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

Hi Ron,

Sorry I just ran into this question and read this thread. I have a question that I don't think has been touched upon.

If "spawned by..." and "extending..." could be modifying either "filigree" OR "fungus", could answer choice B not work in the manner below?

"a giant fungus that IS an interwoven filigree...and EXTENDS for more than 30 acres in the soil of a Michigan forest"

To me the above sounds less awkward too, but clearly the official answer is A. I'd just like to know why the GMAT would prefer A in this type of complex modifier situation.

Thanks so much,

Mike

Hi myzblue,

Within the second modifier, you need to maintain parallelism.

spawned by a single fertilized spore some 10,000 years ago
and
extending for more than 30 acres in the soil of a Michigan forest.

In this case, spawned is a past participle functioning as an adjective and extending is a present participle also functioning as an adjective.

In Choice B, "extends" is not an adjective but a verb and that cannot be parallel to an adjective (spawned)

Hope this helps

Regards

Sunil

Again, nicely done sunil.

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Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor