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655-705 Level|   Comparisons|   Idioms/Diction/Redundancy|   Parallelism|   Pronouns|                           
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Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better 22 Jun 2020, 02:11
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The correct usage of consider is 'Consider A B'
not 'consider A as B' or 'consider A to be B'.

Also, comparison should be made between parallel elements. So Elizabeth's poetry was better than her husband's poetry, not her husband.
We should say - Elizabeth's success was overshadowed by her husband's success or that Elizabeth was overshadowed by her husband. Saying that Elizabeth's poetry was overshadowed by her husband's success or some such combination is wrong.

Hence (D) is the only correct option.
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Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better 10 Jul 2020, 12:37
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But in (C) there is a "that" after "than". For this reason I thought that parallelism was well established. It seems to correctly compare EBB's poetry to that of her husband. Where am I wrong here?

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.
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Hi Genoa2000,

I think the statement you're looking at is based on the first part of that option:
Later overshadowed by the success of her husband, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry had been considered...

This is the part that implies that her poetry was what was overshadowed by the success of her husband.
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Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better 26 Aug 2020, 14:26
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Hi Experts,

Could you please help explain why "was considered" is used rather than "had been considered"? Is there a time sequence between "was considered" and "was overshadowed", since the question indicates that EBB's success was LATER overshadowed by that of her husband?
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Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better 26 Sep 2020, 12:59
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Quote:
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.
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MartyTargetTestPrep, GMATNinja, GMATGuruNY, VeritasPrepHailey, BrightOutlookJenn, AjiteshArun and other experts
Q1: In choice D, 'her' is the proper antecedent for 'Elizabeth Barrett Browning's', but how 'she' is the antecedent of 'Elizabeth Barrett Browning's'?
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Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better 28 Sep 2020, 15:09
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skycastle19
Hi Experts,

Could you please help explain why "was considered" is used rather than "had been considered"? Is there a time sequence between "was considered" and "was overshadowed", since the question indicates that EBB's success was LATER overshadowed by that of her husband?
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The past perfect is certainly acceptable when there are two past actions occurring at different times. But that doesn't mean that the past perfect is always required in such situations. For example:

    "Tim drank a beer and later studied for the GMAT."

In choice (D), the use of the word "later" makes the sequence of events perfectly clear, so there is really no need for the past perfect. More importantly, only one option, (C), features the past perfect, and that option has to be eliminated for other reasons.

For more on the nuances of verb tenses, check out this video.
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Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better 28 Sep 2020, 16:00
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Request Expert Reply:
Hi honorable experts,
MartyTargetTestPrep, GMATNinja, GMATGuruNY, VeritasPrepHailey, BrightOutlookJenn, AjiteshArun and other experts
Q1: In choice D, 'her' is the proper antecedent for 'Elizabeth Barrett Browning's', but how 'she' is the antecedent of 'Elizabeth Barrett Browning's'?
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This demonstrates why it's a bad idea to come up with black and white rules based on what we see in correct/incorrect answer choices! Yes, for clarity, we typically avoid using subject pronouns (i.e. "she") with possessive nouns (i.e. "Elizabeth Barrett Browning's").

But this is a convention, not a rule. The other choices have bigger problems, so we are forced to go against this convention -- thanks a lot, GMAT! (And yes: I've made the mistake of suggesting that the GMAT treated this as a rule in the past. I was wrong to do that.)

Remember, grammar "rules" are designed to improve clarity. In (D), there is really no question that "she" refers to "Elizabeth Barrett Browning." So I guess we have to live with it. :roll:

I hope that helps a bit!
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Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better 13 Feb 2021, 14:25
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This one is inherently about meaning and I myself, admittedly, missed the error in B (and elsewhere)

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.X

There are two errors here. The first error is that the subordinate clause starting with 'although' is followed up by 'later' after the comma. Browning should follow the comma. Error #2 is the sentence conveys that Barrett herself was overshadowed by her husband's success when it should be the case that her success 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.

Tthe sentence conveys that Barrett herself was overshadowed by her husband's success when it should be the case that her success was 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.

This suffers from a modification errior.

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

Correct

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

Browning's poetry cannot be considered than a human being.
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Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better 17 Aug 2021, 05:00
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(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.

The correct idiomatic use of considered is Consider XY
ie. I consider myself a close friend of John
Not
I consider myself to be a close friend of John
I consider myself as a close friend of John

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

Same Reason used to nullify option A

(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.

Same Reason used to nullify option A

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

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

Here an illogical comparison has been made between EBB's poetry and her husband.
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Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better 27 Sep 2021, 11:25
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EMPOWERgmatVerbal
Thanks for your question el1234!

"Consider X as Y" is incorrect, but "Consider X to be Y" is fine to use. "Consider X Y" is also fine to use.

The problem with this sentence is that you have to find the correct idiom to convey the meaning you're looking for. In this case, "consider X to be Y" is okay because it still conveys the intended meaning.

I hope that helps!
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Hi EMPOWERgmatVerbal - Consider X Y is the correct idiom
-- Do X and Y have to be gramatically parallel ? Example - if X is a noun, does Y HAVE to be a noun ONLY ? If X is a clause, does Y HAVE to be a clause only ?

If so, would a sentence like this be WRONG ?
I consider John wise
- John = noun
- Wise = adjective

Would this be wrong ?
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Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better 28 Sep 2021, 11:07
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jabhatta2
-- Do X and Y have to be gramatically parallel ? Example - if X is a noun, does Y HAVE to be a noun ONLY ? If X is a clause, does Y HAVE to be a clause only ?
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Hi jabhatta2,

Until you receive a more complete reply: the complement can be either a noun or an adjective.
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Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better 28 Sep 2021, 12:40
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jabhatta2
-- Do X and Y have to be gramatically parallel ? Example - if X is a noun, does Y HAVE to be a noun ONLY ? If X is a clause, does Y HAVE to be a clause only ?
Hi jabhatta2,

Until you receive a more complete reply: the complement can be either a noun or an adjective.
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Hi AjiteshArun -thank you for relpying .

Are you saying in my example [I consider John wise] - the adjecive (Wise) is a noun ?

I think these are called Nominalized adjectives. (adjectives that function as nouns as in 'the poor, the rich, the English')

The word "wise" can be used as a noun [The wise tend to be successfull]. In this other example -- the adjective "wise" is actually a noun
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Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better 29 Sep 2021, 01:28
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jabhatta2

Although "the wise" can be used as a noun, that's not what you have in your example. It may help to think of "consider X Y" as meaning "think that X is Y." Note that this works with either a noun or an adjective in the Y position. So if I say "I consider John wise," it means "I think that John is wise" (adjective). If I say "I consider John a terrible musician," it means "I think that John is a terrible musician" (noun phrase).
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Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better 29 Sep 2021, 06:26
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jabhatta2
Are you saying in my example [I consider John wise] - the adjecive (Wise) is a noun ?
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Hi jabhatta2,

That wise is an adjective, not a noun.
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Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better 16 Oct 2021, 05:14
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raj44
But doesnt choice D have a pronoun problem? there's no noun for her/she to refer to , and also the noun that it intends to refer to appears in Apostrophe and pronoun cannot refer to a noun in an apostrophe?
This question has a historical significance in the annals of GMAT anthology :) .

For the first time in the available official sources, was it evident that GMAT is perfectly fine with a subject pronoun referring to a possessive noun.

It had been known for quite some time that GMAT was ok with an object pronoun referring to a possessive noun; however, most GMAT instructors continued to believe that GMAT would not be ok with a subject pronoun referring to a possessive noun.

This question proved otherwise and hence, continues to be a very cited question for this reason.
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I think in option D the pronoun "she" is referring to "poet" so looks consistent what GMAT does. GMATNinja do you agree?
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Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better 05 Mar 2022, 10:06
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I rejected option-D because pronoun "She" do not have antecedent. Can someone help me understand what she refers back to?

(D) Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning's success was later overshadowed by that of her husband, among her contemporaries she was considered the better poet.
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Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better 05 Mar 2022, 21:11
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HawkArabian
I rejected option-D because pronoun "She" do not have antecedent. Can someone help me understand what she refers back to?

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

Are you thinking about the "a possessive noun can't be the antecedent for a subject or object pronoun" rule? That "rule" is a problematic one, at best. Generally speaking, we should try not to treat it as an "absolute" rule (that, or maybe not use it all).
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Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better 06 Mar 2022, 05:34
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HawkArabian
I rejected option-D because pronoun "She" do not have antecedent. Can someone help me understand what she refers back to?

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

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, "she" refers to "Elizabeth Barrett Browning".

As AjiteshArun has said, the rule that only possessive pronouns can refer to possessive nouns is not one that the GMAT really follows anymore; thus, a subject or object pronoun can be used to refer to the base of a possessive noun.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better 31 May 2022, 11:20
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You mentioned in one of your videos (about Pronouns) that it is a GMAT rule that the pronoun can never refer back to possessive ('s). For example - Amber's husband eats so much that she calls him a pig. Here, 'she' can't refer back to 'Amber' as per this rule and 'she' doesn't have an antecedent.
Isn't this rule getting broken here?
TIA!
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Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better 31 May 2022, 13:44
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ktzsikka

Actually, that is not a rule that the GMAT uses. Long ago, we taught that it was, but the GMAT showed otherwise. Live and learn!
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Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better 01 Jun 2022, 04:44
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ktzsikka

Isn't this rule getting broken here?
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Except for very few topics (such as Subject-verb agreement), there aren't many iron-clad rules in SC; they are mostly preferences.

This post should give you more clarity on the issue being discussed.
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