pls help!

tobe

12. (Selling several hundred thousand copies in six months, the publication of "Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899 was an instant hit, helping to establish Scott Joplin as the preeminent ragtime composer.)

(A) Selling several hundred thousand copies in six months, the publication of "Maple Leaf Rag"
in 1899 was an instant hit, helping to establish Scott Joplin as the preeminent ragtime composer.
(B) The publication in 1899 of "Maple Leaf Rag" was an instant hit: in six months they sold several hundred thousand copies and it helped establish Scott Joplin as the preeminent ragtime composer.
(C) Helping to establish Scott Joplin as the preeminent ragtime composer was the publication of
"Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899, which was an instant hit: it sold several hundred thousand copies in six months.
(D) "Maple Leaf Rag" was an instant hit: it helped establish Scott Joplin as the preeminent ragtime
composer, published in 1899 and selling several hundred thousand copies in six months.
(E) Published in 1899, "Maple Leaf Rag" was an instant hit, selling several hundred thousand copies in six months: it helped establish Scott Joplin as the pre-eminent ragtime composer.

/E.
In (E),
What is the function of "selling severral.....in six month"? To modify "an instant hit"??????
Why use "selling" instead of "sold"here?

princess

LZM书上的解释：
物品可以作为sell的动作执行者
eg：Our products sells in 44 countries。

这样就好理解了[em13]

sunny

我认为放在后面的现在分词是作为伴随状态，表明Maple Leaf Rag卖出了很多，selling 仍然是修饰Maple Leaf Rag。之所以用现在分词而不是过去分词在于后面的数量。还原应是several hundred thousand copies were sold in six months，如改用sold 的话逻辑关系颠倒。此selling 表明卖出是及物动词，后面接数量是可以的。

tongxun

我认为它是说明hit的。