Among all of the students in the classical music course, Annie is the

Among all of the students in the classical music course, Annie is the most enthusiastic; she prefers Bach's concertos and Beethoven's operas rather than any modern composer.


A. the most enthusiastic; she prefers Bach's concertos and Beethoven's operas rather than any modern composer (Prefer X to Y is the correct form of idiom)
B. the more enthusiastic; she prefers Bach's concertos and Beethoven's operas rather than the compositions of any modern composer (Same as A)
C. the more enthusiastic; she prefers Bach's concertos and Beethoven's operas to the compositions of any modern composer (More is used to compare two things)
D. the most enthusiastic; she prefers Bach's concertos and Beethoven's operas to the compositions of any modern composers (Correct)
E. the most enthusiastic; she prefers Bach's concertos and Beethoven's operas to the compositions of any other modern composers (Usage of other is redundant)

Yes, the correct answer does rely on our understanding that Bach and Beethoven are not modern composers, since that's the only difference between D and E. We might be expected to use context clues to make the right choice if we didn't have that knowledge (what does preferring these two particular composers have to do with being in a classical course, if they're just modern composers like the others?), but that might be more than the GMAT would ask of us. I've seen an official question in which the "other" issue relied on a similar connection--is Franz Xaver Kroetz German? https://gmatclub.com/forum/ranked-as-on ... 49941.html Note that in this case, the right answer can be reached without this knowledge, since there are other problems with the four wrong choices, but the comparison makes more sense if we make the assumption that Kroetz is German. So there's a similar reliance on using meaning to make the determination.

I should add that if you're not familiar with Bach, you're missing out on one of the greatest bodies of work of any artist in human history. Here are a few humble suggestions that should make good studying music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZomWV63cBg4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83wY_IegKqU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mCAQfPZfQ4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iksL1j9 ... E7BC0F644F

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Read the Original Sentence Carefully, Looking for Errors

When the superlative adjective most appears in an underlined segment, use context clues to determine how many entities are involved in the comparison. Most is appropriate for comparisons among three or more entities, while more is needed for comparisons between two entities. In this sentence, Annie is being compared to all the other students in the class, so "most" is appropriate.

The underlined portion also contains the verb "prefers." Idiomatically, a person prefers one thing to another (not over another or rather than another or instead of another). For example, it would be correct to say, I prefer ravioli to spaghetti. Here, the construction is "prefers ... rather than." Moreover, the comparison is illogically between "concertos and ... operas" and "any modern composer." The sentence should either compare musical works to other musical works or composers to composers. (A) is incorrect.

Scan and Group the Answer Choices

A scan of the beginnings of the choices reveals that (B) and (C) incorrectly change the superlative "most" to the comparative "more."

Eliminate Choices Until Only One Remains

(A) is out for the reasons noted in the initial analysis. Get rid of (B) and (C) for using the incorrect comparative form. Compare (D) and (E) in more depth.

Both (D) and (E) use the correct idiom "prefers ... to." However, by adding the word "other" to describe modern composers, (E) alters the meaning of the original sentence. This choice implies that Bach and Beethoven are other modern composers rather than two of the classical composers Annie is enthusiastic about, as the original sentence indicates. Only (D) corrects the original idiom issue without changing the meaning of the sentence.

TAKEAWAY: When a sentence contains a comparison, use the context clues to determine how many entities are being compared and, thus, whether the comparative or the superlative form of an adjective is needed.

correct answer is E since D hs a problem ‘than any ‘ may include both of them which os wrong

Thanks it helps


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Expert explanation please for D and E option.

Even I have the same question. This is the reason I picked E in the first place.
Can some verbal expert please respond to this query?

D: the most enthusiastic; she prefers Bach's concertos and Beethoven's operas to the compositions of any modern composers
Bach and Beethoven are two of the classical composers. This sentence means that because "Annie is among the students in the classical music course", she only prefers classical composers, not modern composers.
--> D is correct, Bach's concertos and Beethoven's operas vs compositions of any modern composers.

E: the most enthusiastic; she prefers Bach's concertos and Beethoven's operas to the compositions of any other modern composers
--> E is incorrect, Bach's concertos and Beethoven's operas are NOT compositions of modern composers. Therefore, we can not use "Other".

D.
We use superlative forms when comparing more than 2 things. Hence most is preferred.
Also Bach and Beethoven are not modern composers hence we cannot choose E

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