elevinty

what I meant, when nor is in the sentence by ITSELF without Neither, nor cannot be followed by a noun or adj or infinitive for that matter, it has to be followed by a clause. does Erin still participate in the forum?

Nor (by itself) has to be followed by full clause right, not by an adj or noun

Erin, whats wrong with A in the 4th question. thanks

you didnt explain how it is grammatically right

@ravigmat: First I thought past participles can only come as an adjective, but when I referred back to the grammar book that I have it turns out that past participles cannot come as an adjectives, they can only function an adverb and usually as an adverb of cause ex: prodded by public opinion, the senators changed their position. Here the participle is functioning as an adverb of cause. In the question I was confused about the participle because I thought it can't come anywhere in the sentence but it turns out that it can; I dont think in the question above it's acting as an adverb of cause but it still modifying the last bit of the sentence(project SETI), therefore C is grammatically right. The OA is C A cannot be right for the following: There is nothing wrong with it grammatically but the meaning is altered becuase it says it was initiated after five centuries when it actually initiated on columbus day, the right meaning is that the project started five centuries ..... and it was initiated on columbus day.

Initiated five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World on Columbus Day 1992, Project SETI pledged a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. (A) Initiated five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World on Columbus Day 1992, project SETI pledged a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. (B) Initiated on Columbus Day 1992, five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World，a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence was pledged by Project SETI． © Initiated on Columbus Day 1992，five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World，Project SETI pledged a$100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence． (D) Pledging a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, the initiation of Project SETI five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World on Columbus Day 1992． (E) Pledging a $100 million investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World，on Columbus Day 1992，the initiation of Project SETI took place here is my question: what I dont understand is the structure: In C and B: Initiated on Columbus Day 1992，five centuries after Europeans arrived in the New World, what is the function of the noun phrase in here(five centuries....), at first glance it seemed as an misplaced modifier, because you need a noun subject after the introductory phrase instead we have another modifier, to me the place of this modifier seems illogical correct me if am wrong: The sentence starts with an adverb(initiated...) hence it can come any where in the sentence and still modify the main clause, the second bit is a noun modifier(five centuries...) that is functioning as appositive, therefore it can come before or after the noun that it's meant to modify, as a result the sentence is grammatically right.

years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period. A. which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks B. which caused the plant and animal extinctions marking C. and causing plant and animal extinctions that mark D. an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, and it marks E. an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark Here is my question: In options E and D, how is the appositive grammatically right, shouldn't the appositive set next to the noun that it's modifying, in this case what is (an event) actually modifying because if it's modifying north america, then it wouldnt be right need help plz