When "being" is correct to use.. in GMATLand

There are at least two different situations in which being is often the right answer.

Here is the first example of when being is correct:

When the grammar requires it.

Yes, I'm trying to simplify things here, but the idea is this--many ideas can be expressed in more than one way. For example, I can say:

I'm afraid of being late.

I'm afraid that I'll be late.

Each has its own emphasis, but the point is that these two structures exist.

Whether we can express ideas in one or more structures is really related to the word used; in other words, it is idiomatic.

But some idioms allow only one structure. For example:

In addition to being one of the first restaurants to combine Mediterranean and American tastes, Chez Panisse in Berkeley is also one of the Bay Area's most established restaurants.

The idiomatic structure in addition to does not have a counterpart that uses a subject and a verb, so our only option here is to use being, which is grammatically a noun, but is derived from a verb.

The second example of when being is correct is shown in this example:

There are many reasons to get an MBA, with increased career prospects being the most important for many MBA applicants.

Technically this part here:

with increased career prospects being the most important for many MBA applicants

is an absolute phrase, but I think it's also helpful just to memorize the pattern:

with + NOUN + being + NOUN COMPLEMENT

Simply a word or phrase that could logically and grammatically complete this pattern:

NOUN + LINKING VERB + NOUN COMPLEMENT

For example, we could have:

She is a friend.

so "friend" is a noun complement. In this case, we can see that a noun can be a noun complement.

Credit: Erin from Testmagic forum

Source: http://www.sentencecorrection.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=323

Ex: Some surveys on the use of graphics in business presentation indicate that proposals incorporating graphics stand a twenty percent better chance of being approved than proposals without graphics.

A. a twenty percent better chance of being approved than proposals
B. a twenty percent better chance of approval in comparison with those
C. a likelihood they will be approved twenty percent greater than those
D. a twenty percent greater likelihood of approval as compared to proposals
E. twenty percent more likelihood of being approved than do those

Ans A