Although his early critics had viewed Christopher Marlowe as

Question

Although his early critics had viewed Christopher Marlowe as a talented and brilliant writer and had often compared his plays to those of Shakespeare,  until almost 1950, modern critics and biographers did not begin seriously to consider  the literary merits of his works.

(A) until almost 1950, modern critics and biographers did not begin seriously to consider

(B) not until almost 1950 were modern critics and biographers to begin seriously to consider

(C) it was not until almost 1950 that modern critics and biographers seriously began considering

(D) until almost 1950 modern critics and biographers had not begun seriously considering

(E) it was not almost until 1950 when modern critics and biographers began to seriously consider

ramannanda9 · Answer

--Not an expert on grammar C, Because the first half uses although it requires a change of mood in the later half of the sentence. Also until is a preposition and you require a independent clause for the second half. Also,Kindly hide the OA

Not A, because of the reasons already stated Not B, Ungrammatical C is correct D for reasons already stated and tense mismatch E changes the meaning

gmatter0913 · Answer

The sentence requires "not until", to convey the contrast that "although" introduced.

1. Wrong meaning. It somehow conveys that the comparison of his plays to that of Shakespeare's plays happened until 1950. The meaning is: while that comparison happened much earlier, Christopher's work was not taken seriously until 1950.

2. "were" introduced a passive tense. "to begin" is wrong. "were ... to begin ...to consider" is awkward.

3. seems okay. lets see if we get something better.

4. usage of past perfect is wrong as this is the latter event. Also, "not" should precede "until".

5. Usage of "when" is wrong. It has to be "not until .. that"

Hence C.

iamdp · Answer

Although his early critics had viewed Christopher Marlowe as a talented and brilliant writer and had often compared his plays to those of Shakespeare, until almost 1950, modern critics and biographers did not begin seriously to consider the literary merits of his works.

(A)   until almost   1950, modern critics and biographers did not begin seriously to consider. > Although is used therefore Contrast needed ie not until that

(B) not until almost 1950 were modern critics and biographers  to begin seriously to consider  > awkward usage

(C) it was not until almost 1950 that modern critics and biographers seriously began considering. Bingo...!!! Everything is at place.

(D) until almost 1950 modern critics and biographers  had not begun  seriously considering > Although is used therefore Contrast needed ie not until that

(E)   it was not almost until   1950   when   modern critics and biographers began to seriously consider. > Until then less preferred over until that in this sentence because if the meaning conveyed(ALSO QUESTION SAYS SERIOUSLY BEGAN TO CONSIDER NOT BEGIN TO SERIOUSLY CONSIDER) this is my view

mvictor · Answer

isn't C changing the meaning?
seriously began?
while in the original sentence - began to seriously consider.
I eliminated C because of this subtle change of meaning.

sayantanc2k · Answer

The original sentence has "began seriously to consider", not "began to seriously consider".

nuttyxtreme · Answer

Hi all,
I think that "not almost until" and "not until almost" are similar
Is my understanding correct ?

sayantanc2k · Answer

Since "almost" modifies "1950", it is better to place "almost" next to "1950".

gargisback · Answer

HI ,
E IN MY VIEW IS WRING BECAUSE IT USES SPLIT INFINITIVE WHICH IS A STRICT NO IN GMAT . A,B,D USE WRONG TENSE THERFORE YOU ARE LEFT WITH C ONLY.

daagh · Answer

When within the pressure cooker time at hand on the D-day, it will be prudent to eliminate first grammatical errors before attempting to go by meaning. This is a classical model of such an approach.

First thing is that an adverb modifies a verb it follows. In A and B and E what follows 'seriously' is to consider, an infinitive that is not a verb. For that matter even in D, the adverb is modified by a participle rather than a verb. This is ungrammatical. Therefore, one can make bold to omit A, B, D, and E.

On the contrary, C properly uses 'seriously began', which is the correct diction.

JS1290 · Answer

Hi  GMATNinjaTwo   GMATNinja ,

I was wondering could you please explain how option E deviates from the original intent of our sentence? Original sentence says "begin seriously to consider" and option E says "began to seriously consider"? Is it because the preposition "to" is places before "seriously" in option E? If so, can't we say option C also changes the original intent of our sentence? Option C says "seriously began considering" whereas option A says "begin seriously to consider"

Would greatly appreciate it!

AdityaHongunti · Answer

csaluja

Although his early critics had viewed Christopher Marlowe as a talented and brilliant writer and had often compared his plays to those of Shakespeare, until almost 1950, modern critics and biographers did not begin seriously to consider the literary merits of his works.

grammar:" seriously " is an adverb . Adverb modfies a base verb . nearest  base  verb is "begin" . " to consider " is an infinitive verb (which is not a base verb ).

meaning : although early critics thought of C as talented bl bla bla , the scientists did not begin seriously (they just were doing minimal ,over the surface , not so deep research on his work) to consider. But afterwards they began seriously ( going in deep) to consider his work .

Now E is grammatically wrong : because seriously though placed between "to and consider " , the entire "to+consider" is an infinitive verb and not " base verb"

meaning wise : original meaning "began seriously " . We began seriously . NOT seriouslt started considering.

"to + verb " = is an adverb itself . it can modify anoher verb. but then 2 adverbs modfying no verb??? .
Remember : "to+verb" is an infinitive verb . Adverb cannot modify infinitive. infinitive is itself an adverb

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Although his early critics had viewed Christopher Marlowe as

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Although his early critics had viewed Christopher Marlowe as

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