OFFICIAL EXPLANATIONProject SC Butler: Day 188: Sentence Correction (SC1)
• HIGHLIGHTSComparisonsTheoretically this comparison could fall out in two ways:
(1) Mitterrand's views are more compatible with Reagan's views than the views of Mitterrand's predecessor [D'Estaing] were [D'Estaing]
(2) Mitterrand's views are more compatible with Reagan's views than were the views of former U.S. President Carter, Reagan's predecessor
But "theoretically possible" does not mean "the correct answer" or even "grammatical and rhetorically forceful."
From the context of the sentence, we need to decide what is being compared.
Option 1 is logical.
The context is
international policy issues.
We care about how leaders of different countries approach international issues.
The current French leader is more compatible with the current U.S. leader than the former French leader was compatible with the current U.S. leader.
Mitterrand (France) v Reagan (U.S.) and D'Estaing (France) v. Reagan (U.S.) make sense as interesting subjects of contrast.
Option 2 is not logical.
Who cares about whether the current French president is more compatible with the current U.S. president than the former U.S. president was with the current U.S. president?
The former U.S. president isn't working in the international arena right now.
Issues I saw raised in posts-- nothing is wrong with
hisPronoun rule: a possessive pronoun can always have a possessive antecedent (his . . . The French Socialist president's)
Pronoun rule: if you have learned about "possessive poison," then you need to alter what you have learned. GMAC has been subtly (and finally, not subtly) announcing "possessive poison" is not a basis upon which you should eliminate an option immediately.
-- please read my post
here.
-- the verb
were is needed in option A.
Often, you can delete a "to be" verb from the second part of a comparison.
But not always. THE PROMPTQuote:
There seems to be a broad range of international policy issues on which the views of France’s Socialist president are more compatible with President Reagan’s than were those of his predecessor.
• Meaning? The views of Mitterrand are closer to Reagan;s [views] than the views of Mitterrand's predecessor were (D'Estaing)
THE OPTIONSQuote:
A) There seems to be a broad range of international policy issues on which the views of France’s Socialist president are more compatible with President Reagan’s than were those of his predecessor
• I've scanned all the options quickly. In this option, I have stricken the "There seems to be sentence" because it makes no difference in analyzing the sentence.
• Meaning? The current president of France is more similar to Reagan in terms of foreign policy viewpoints than the former president of France was.
• I see one tiny issue: the word "his" MAY be ambiguous.
-- does "his predecessor" refer to Reagan's predecessor? Or to Mitterrand's?
-- Mitterrand's. As I explained above, this contrast makes a lot more sense than pitting the current French president's compatibility against the U.S. president before Reagan. Once again, if you believe that
his his
no antecedent, please read my post about GMAT and its changed position on "possessive poison."
KEEP. And compare every answer to this one, because it's good.
Quote:
(B) There seems to be a broad range of international policy issues on which the views of France’s Socialist president are more compatible with those of President Reagan’s than were those of his predecessor’s
• always wrong, no exceptions: do not use the "double possessive."
[color=#0000ff]Correct: Ys of X. (Ys = poems, X = Elizabeth Bishop)
-- The poems of Elizabeth Bishop haunt me.
Correct: X's Ys.
-- Elizabeth's Bishop's poems haunt me.
Always wrong: Ys of X'sThe poems of Elizabeth Bishop's haunt me.
I marked the two parts of option B in which double possessives are used.
Eliminate B
Quote:
C) There seems to be a broad range of international policy issues on which the views of France’s Socialist president seem more compatible with those of President Reagan than [with?] his predecessor’s [were?].
• Don't use
seem in the same clause twice in this way. Such usage is not standard.
-- The sentence has established that there
seems to be . . . a something. That something IS.
-- The sentence essentially says that
there seems to be a something in which something else seems. -- We would say either "There seems to be an area in which X is the case," OR "X seems to be the case."
• now
his is probably ambiguous.
-- if the sentence wants to say that Mitterrand's views are
more compatible with Reagan's views
than WITH Mitterrand's predecessor (a third logically silly sentence), there should be a second "with."
-- if the sentence wants to say (2) above,
Current French President's views ARE more compatible with R's than those [views] of his predecessor's.
A bit of parallelism is suggested in (A): the subject of the comparison and the logical object of comparison both have a verb.
• Compare to (A). No contest.
Eliminate C
Quote:
D) There seems to be a broad range of international policy issues on which France’s Socialist president’s views are more compatible with President Reagan’s than [WITH]his predecessor’s →→ or than his predecessor's were
• We need
with or
were here, and we have neither.
•
With would tell us that (P) has more in common with (Q) than [P has in common] WITH (R.)
• the verb
were would also clean things up.
-- French President and U.S. President
are in the present (in this situation).
-- "were" would help: . . .
are more compatible with the views of Ronald Reagan than the views of his predecessor
were. (How compatible the former
French President's views were with those of Pres. Reagan is a contextually appropriate question. How compatible the former U.S. Presidents views were with those of Pres.Reagan is not of much importance.)
Quote:
E) There seems to be a broad range of international policy issues on which France’s Socialist president’s views seem more compatible with President Reagan’s than those of his predecessor
• This option has the same problem with
seem as (C) does.
• "than those of his predecessor" would be better with a verb.
• compare to (A), which beats (E) easily.
Eliminate E
The answer is ACOMMENTSmgupta20Tracy95 ,
mggmat19 , and
elavendan1 welcome to GMAT CLub.
Wow.
I'm kinda dazed from writing and rewriting this answer.
(Every once in a long while it is really hard to know how best to explain something.)
I think this question is the in the top five hardest that I have posted.
The question is not flawless; very few non-official questions are.
But this question is very good for forcing aspirants to think about
how context affects grammar and meaning.
The context is international affairs.
We care about the leaders of the countries and how they interact.
I am glad to see zero "knee-jerk" answers. By that phrase I mean that everyone tried to engage with the material and did not start spouting off rules.
Everyone who gave a good effort at an explanation will get a smiley face, unless you are new, in which case you get a smiley face, full stop. (Just make sure that you explain.
)
Everyone who gave a correct answer and good explanation before the OA reveal will get kudos.
Correct answers with explanations after the OA will get a smiley face.