<p style="">Consider this expanded version of the sentence: </p><p style="">"The manager came into the meeting room, <strong>and he was</strong> eagerly finding a place to sit."</p><p style="">Here, "and" is a coordinating conjunction that links two independent clauses:</p><ol style=""><li>"The manager came into the meeting room"</li><li>"he was eagerly finding a place to sit."</li></ol><p style="">For the sake of brevity and fluency, English often allows for the omission of coordinating conjunctions and certain parts of the following clause when the subject of both clauses is the same and the actions are happening concurrently.</p><p style="">Thus, the sentence is shortened to: </p><p style="">"The manager came into the meeting room, eagerly finding a place to sit."</p><p style="">Therefore, the correct answer is (C) finding.</p>