This picture of Beethoven was sketched by a close friend of

I definitely see what everyone is saying about "his death" referring more clearly to Beethoven's death in (E).

But there are a couple rules that apply:

1. If you use a pronoun multiple times in a sentence, the default understanding is that all have the same antecedent.
The manager sold his car to his employee a few weeks after he was hired.
Even though "his" and "he" are different cases of the male pronoun, the default assumption is that they all refer to the same antecedent: the manager. If the intended meaning were "after the employee was hired," then it would be wrong to use "he." But if the intended meaning is "after the manager was hired," you can either say "he" or "the manager." Is it more clear to say "the manager"? Definitely, yes. But is it wrong to say "he"? I don't think it's wrong enough to be the sole reason for GMAT elimination.

2. Logical meaning plays a role in making a pronoun-antecedent connection. It's obvious the friend could not sketch after the friend's death, so (with #1 also in mind), "his death" is not only allowed to refer to "Beethoven's death," it should refer to "Beethoven's death."

This example isn't exactly the same, but I doubt anyone would complain that "his" is terribly unclear in this sentence:
Larry's bike was stolen by his former friend two weeks after his last bike ride.
If "his" friend is Larry's friend, "his" ride would be Larry's ride too. And logically, if "his last bike ride" were the friend's, wouldn't the trip to steal the bike be the last ride, not two weeks after the last ride? We consider both repetition and logic, as we should on the Beethoven question.

My point: pronouns must have clear antecedents, but there are some uses that are acceptable even though they might fall into a grey area.

On the pronoun issue, sure, E is better than B.
On the modifier issue, B is better than E.
On the GMAT, the wrong answers are usually more wrong than either of these choices!

Before too long, let me also jump into the fray; IMO, a wrong word order is an important style error in SC , that will override any others since it directly affects the meaning of the entire clause.

Now on B;



If ‘his’ is ambiguous here, who else might it refer to? ‘His friend’ probably implying that the friend sketched it after a few weeks after his own death ( probably as a ghost?). How logical is this frightening reference? .

On E;
Was sketched from memory a few weeks after his death by a close friend of his
1. I hve no issues about the phrase 'a friend of his’ modifying Beethoven. However, the wording of ‘by a close friend of his’ immediately after his death is definitely a wrong word order implying that Beethoven’s death was caused by his close friend. This has been more than amply pointed out Esledge.

2. Can we say ‘a close friend of his’? How can we use two possessive markers such as 'of' and 'his' in the same phrase, where 'his' is an adjective? By a close friend of his means by a close friend of Beethoven, where Beethoven is the object of the preposition. Now if you want to replace the object with a pronoun, then you have to use another object case and say ‘by a close friend of him’.

IMO E is too much ridden with questionable flaws to befit a challenge

This is a good question that tests the readability of the test-taker. esledge gave a good answer I believe, I too drew the same answer using my technique yet, this question posed a good challenge.

This picture of Beethoven | was sketched by his close friend | from memory | a few weeks after his death.

If it is read wrongly - makes it sound awkward and good for elimination.

This picture of Beethoven | was sketched | by his close friend from memory | a few weeks after his death.

However, the perfect answer would have been -

This picture of Beethoven | was sketched [|] from memory [|] by his close friend | a few weeks after his death.

Despite the pauses in reading the sentence, or not, the meaning is not distorted. And GMAT asks us only the appropriate answer option among the given choices, not the perfect answer to a given question.

This picture of Beethoven was sketched by a close friend of his by memory a few weeks after his death.
A. was sketched by a close friend of his by memory a few weeks after his death =
B. was sketched by his close friend from memory a few weeks after his death = keep it
C. on his death bed, was sketched by a close friend of his from memory a few weeks later = ignore.
D. was sketched by a close friend a few weeks after his death by memory = here "his" refers to close friend
E. was sketched from memory a few weeks after his death by a close friend of his = correct one.

I go for E too but you should probably also look at "by memory" vs "from memory" as well. 'by memory" is not correct here so A and D are out. C completely changes the meaning of the sentence. for B, "from memory" position in the sentence is amiguous so E is the only one that makes sense.

This picture of Beethoven was sketched by a close friend of his by memory a few weeks after his death.
A. was sketched by a close friend of his by memory a few weeks after his death
B. was sketched by his close friend from memory a few weeks after his death
C. on his death bed, was sketched by a close friend of his from memory a few weeks later
D. was sketched by a close friend a few weeks after his death by memory
E. was sketched from memory a few weeks after his death by a close friend of his

E can just not be correct, considering the distortion of meaning it lends itself to.

E. was sketched from memory a few weeks after his death by a close friend of his

E erroneously points out the possibility that Beethoven’s death itself occurred by a close friend of his. How funny!

I used a meaning/S-V/ humor based to think out loud the sentence as an approach for this, in the style of GMATNinja [Really appreciate the explanations]

This picture of Beethoven was sketched by a close friend of his by memory a few weeks after his death.

A. was sketched by a close friend of his by memory a few weeks after his death - 'memory' cannot sketch. OUT
B. was sketched by his close friend from memory a few weeks after his death - 'his close friend from memory' - very inception like, it seems the friend was from 'memory' too. OUT
C. on his death bed, was sketched by a close friend of his from memory a few weeks later same issue as C. Inception! OUT
D. was sketched by a close friend a few weeks after his death by memory memory cannot sketch. OUT
E. was sketched from memory a few weeks after his death by a close friend of his CORRECT. 'Picture was sketched from memory a few weeks later'

It is illogical to take 'a friend from memory.' Can memory produce friends?

But the sketches can be from memory, especially if the person being sketched is no more.

Hello f0restreal,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, "death by cause" is a correct idiomatic construction, but in this construction, the "cause" must refer to the literal cause of the death, not a person who caused the death; we can say "death by murder" or "death by stabbing", but we cannot say "death by a stranger" or "death by his sister".

Thus, there is no meaning error in Option E.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

IMO E.

E is the only option where "his" refers to Beethoven.

sanap and swethar, can you further explain why you think "his" only refers to Beethoven in (E)? Is it because "his death" most closely follows the friend, not Beethoven, in ABD?

I'll point out that there are two "his"s in ABE. The first "his" in A and B cannot refer to the friend (based on the way it is used in relation to "friend," only to Beethoven. Two "his" in the same sentence must have the same antecedent, so we are correct to interpret "his death" as Beethoven's death.

A. was sketched by a close friend of his by memory a few weeks after his death
B. was sketched by his close friend from memory a few weeks after his death

I agree with amma4u. Answer E clearly states that the picture of Beethoveen was sketched after beethoven death and not after his friend death.
In B, "after his death" could refer to either Beethoven or his friend = not clear.

Tricky question and good attempts at explaining the rationale behind the various answers. I think B and E are both grammatically correct, but B is more elegant where as E is somewhat awkward and wordy. There is no pronoun problem with B....both 'his' can only refer to Beethoven for two reasons. One, the antecedent of the first his is well established and the second his must have the same antecedent. If we DID NOT want this to be the case, we'd have to reword the sentence. The second reason is that the friend cannot paint after his own death, so the second his can only refer to the person who has died.

MY POE :

A .This picture of Beethoven was sketched by a close friend of his by memory a few weeks after his death .
B. This picture of Beethoven was sketched by his close friend from memory a few weeks after his death .
C. on his death bed - seriously.
D. was sketched by a close friend a few weeks after his death by memory - damn this is great.
E. This picture of Beethoven was sketched from memory a few weeks after his death by a close friend of his - lol that was betrayal.

My answer: No answer.

This picture of Beethoven was sketched by a close friend of his by memory a few weeks after his death.

A. was sketched by a close friend of his by memory a few weeks after his death
B. was sketched by his close friend from memory a few weeks after his death
C. on his deathbed was sketched by a close friend of his from memory a few weeks later
D. was sketched by a close friend a few weeks after his death by memory
E. was sketched from memory a few weeks after his death by a close friend of his

The take away from this question is to make the most of it for some useful tips.

1. 'Of his' is double possessive and therefore remove A, C, and E.
2. 'Sketched by memory' and 'death by memory' are both illogical in D

His death in B cannot refer to his friend's death; If he was dead, how did he sketch? Please apply logic. B is the best of the lot.

daagh,

In B option, does "Friend From Memory" make sense ?

I know the rule of never challenge GMAT, but this OA obviously is wrong, correct answer is B.