My birthday is in 2 days

What offres the advantages of drawing conclusions quickly without testing every possible example

Which sentence contains a correctly used participial phrase? a) camping by the lakeside, the cries of geese kept me awake. b) after brushing on another stroke of fiery crimson, the canvas looked complete. c) peering through the rain spattered window, the scenery appeared lush and verdant. d) kicking the ball into the upper left hand corner of the goal, the striker scored the winning goal.

How would the meaning of the excerpt change if mutterings was replaced with conversations?