In addition to

[mikrodj]

Hi everyone, I have a question regarding the use of in addition to. I came across two sentences that seem to use it different ways.
[Deleted because this question is from a banned source - see below.]

The correct response for this question -- I think -- is E. I understand that employees, in addition to the increase in hourly wages, are now seeking ....

but in the following question

In addition to her work on the miocene homicide fosiil record, Mary Leakey contributed to archaelogy with her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and painstakingly documenting East African paintings.

(A) Leakey contributed to archaeology with her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and painstakingly documenting

(B) Leakey contributed to archaeology by her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and by painstakingly documenting

(C) Leakey was a contributor to archaelogy with her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and with her painstaking documentation of

(D) Leakey’s contributions to archaelogy include her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and her painstaking documentation of

(E) Leakey’s contributions to archaelogy include her discovering the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and painstaking documentation of

The correct answer seems to be D and not A. The explanations have read say that the modifier refers to Leake's work, so you have to start with Leakey's work. I do not really understand this.

Can't you say for example, in addition to my degree, I also have a post-doc?

I'd appreciate whether someone could explain the differences to me.
Thank you in advance.

[RonPurewal]

well.

"in addition to" is basically a preposition.

initial prepositional modifiers are pretty slippery - they can function EITHER as adjectival modifiers (modifying the NOUN that comes after the comma) OR as adverbial modifiers (modifying the ENTIRE CLAUSE that comes after the comma).

here's an example of each:
with only two hours' work, tom created an entire album of minimalist electronic music. --> here the modifier is adverbial, modifying the entire following clause
with only one hand, drummer rick allen is an inspiration to disabled musicians worldwide. --> here the modifier is adjectival, modifying rick allen only.

so you can't shoehorn these modifiers into one type of function, unfortunately.

--

what is the source of the first problem? i know that the second is from gmatprep, but i don't really like the first.

[mikrodj]

I'm sorry I forgot to reply to you. Thank you very much for such detailed explanation.

The firs problem is from 1000SC, so you can deleted. I'm sorry but I didn't know it was a banned source when I posted.

Ron, since you're the most knowledgeable person I've read when it comes to grammar, could you let me know resources on Standard Written English?

I'd like to go further in this area so if you could recommend any books/resources, I'd appreciate it.

Thank you in advance.