Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better

Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one thing at a time, and narrow it down to the correct choice quickly! First, here is the original question with any major differences highlighted in orange:

Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better poet than her husband, later Elizabeth Barrett Browning was overshadowed by his success.

(A) Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better poet than her husband, later Elizabeth Barrett Browning was overshadowed by his success.
(B) Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning was considered among her contemporaries as a better poet than her husband, she was later overshadowed by his success.
(C) Later overshadowed by the success of her husband, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry had been considered among her contemporaries to be better than that of her husband.
(D) Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning's success was later overshadowed by that of her husband, among her contemporaries she was considered the better poet.
(E) Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry was considered among her contemporaries as better than her husband, but her success was later overshadowed by his.

While there is a lot we could focus on, there are 2 main areas we can start with:

1. How Browning is compared to her husband (Idioms)
2. How Browning was overshadowed by her husband (Parallelism)

Let's start with #1 on our list: how the sentence compares Browning to her husband. This is an issue of idiom structure with comparisons. We need to make sure that each sentence follows the general rules of how to compare two items:

X is better than Y
X is considered Y
X is considered to be Y

Let's take a close look at each sentence and determine if each uses the proper idiom formats. If not, let's eliminate them:

(A) Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better poet than her husband, later Elizabeth Barrett Browning was overshadowed by his success.

considered...to be = OKAY
she was...better than her husband = OKAY

(B) Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning was considered among her contemporaries as a better poet than her husband, she was later overshadowed by his success.

considered...as = WRONG
Browning was...better than her husband = OKAY

(C) Later overshadowed by the success of her husband, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry had been considered among her contemporaries to be better than that of her husband.

considered...to be = OKAY
Browning's poetry had been...better than that of her husband = OKAY

(D) Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning's success was later overshadowed by that of her husband, among her contemporaries she was considered the better poet.

she was considered... = OKAY
she was...the better poet = OKAY

(E) Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry was considered among her contemporaries as better than her husband, but her success was later overshadowed by his.

considered...as = WRONG
Browning's poetry...better than her husband = OKAY

We can eliminate options B & E because they use one or both idioms incorrectly. Now that we have it narrowed down to 3 options, let's tackle #2 on our list. We need to make sure that the items being compared in each sentence are parallel!

(A) Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better poet than her husband, later Elizabeth Barrett Browning was overshadowed by his success.

This is INCORRECT because it's not idiomatically correct to say that Browning is "the better poet than" her husband. It's best to say she is "a better poet" than her husband, or just say that between the two of them, she is "the better poet."

(C) Later overshadowed by the success of her husband, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry had been considered among her contemporaries to be better than that of her husband.

This is INCORRECT because it contains a misleading modifier. Who/what was overshadowed by the husband's success? The wife! It doesn't make sense to compare the husband's success to the wife's poetry - that's not parallel. The sentence needs to clearly contrast the husband's success with the wife's success to be parallel.

(D) Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning's success was later overshadowed by that of her husband, among her contemporaries she was considered the better poet.

This is CORRECT! It uses parallel structure to compare Browning's success to her husband's success, and it correctly handles the comparison of their abilities as poets by saying she is "the better poet."


There you have it - option D is the correct choice!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

Dear EMPOWERgmatVerbal,
I find option D to be the most suitable answer. but I feel that meaning of the sentence is changed in the phrase "among her contemporaries she was considered the better poet".

Actual meaning of the sentence should be she was considered better poet than her husband.

In the phase mentioned above, it means that she is better poet than the contemporaries

Kindly suggest.

Thanks in advance
bb generis GMATNinja egmat VeritasKarishma

Dear EMPOWERgmatVerbal,
I find option D to be the most suitable answer. but I feel that meaning of the sentence is changed in the phrase "among her contemporaries she was considered the better poet".

Actual meaning of the sentence should be she was considered better poet than her husband.

In the phase mentioned above, it means that she is better poet than the contemporaries

Kindly suggest.

Thanks in advance
bb generis GMATNinja egmat VeritasKarishma

"The subject here is EBB's poetry, not EBB, so the antecedent of her in her husband could comically be taken to be EBB's poetry"

Hello generis

N option D can you help me understand id the relationship between the pronoun her and she is connected to the correct antecedent. Thanks

Consider/Considered + Noun is the correct structure. Consider to be, Consider as, are all wrong. Consider+bare form of the noun is the correct structure.

Only option D says "considered the better poet". Rest all choices say considered as, considered to be.

OPTION: D

GMATNinja Hi!
I still don't get the point why SHE in option D is not incorrect... does this pronoun have any antecedent?
Reading other answers I got why HER is ok, but I can't figure out why SHE is correct..

Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better poet than her husband, later Elizabeth Barrett Browning was overshadowed by his success.


(A) Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better poet than her husband, later Elizabeth Barrett Browning was overshadowed by his success.

(B) Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning was considered among her contemporaries as a better poet than her husband, she was later overshadowed by his success.

(C) Later overshadowed by the success of her husband, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry had been considered among her contemporaries to be better than that of her husband.

(D) Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning's success was later overshadowed by that of her husband, among her contemporaries she was considered the better poet.

(E) Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry was considered among her contemporaries as better than her husband, but her success was later overshadowed by his.

Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better poet than her husband, later Elizabeth Barrett Browning was overshadowed by his success.


(A) Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better poet than her husband, later Elizabeth Barrett Browning was overshadowed by his success.

(B) Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning was considered among her contemporaries as a better poet than her husband, she was later overshadowed by his success.

(C) Later overshadowed by the success of her husband, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry had been considered among her contemporaries to be better than that of her husband.

(D) Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning's success was later overshadowed by that of her husband, among her contemporaries she was considered the better poet.

(E) Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry was considered among her contemporaries as better than her husband, but her success was later overshadowed by his.