Dear Friends,
Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
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Each of Hemingway’s wives—Hadley Richardson, Pauline Pfeiffer, Martha Gelhorn, and Mary Welsh—were strong and interesting women, very different from the often pallid women who populate his novels.
(A) Each of Hemingway’s wives—Hadley Richardson, Pauline Pfeiffer, Martha Gelhorn, and Mary Welsh—were strong and interesting women,
(B) Hadley Richardson, Pauline Pfeiffer, Martha Gelhorn, and Mary Welsh—each of them Hemingway’s wives—were strong and interesting women,
(C) Hemingway’s wives—Hadley Richardson, Pauline Pfeiffer, Martha Gelhorn, and Mary Welsh—were all strong and interesting women,
(D) Strong and interesting women—Hadley Richardson, Pauline Pfeiffer, Martha Gelhorn, and Mary Welsh—each a wife of Hemingway, was
(E) Strong and interesting women—Hadley Richardson, Pauline Pfeiffer, Martha Gelhorn, and Mary Welsh—every one of Hemingway’s wives were
Choice A: This answer choice features a subject-verb disagreement between the subject "Each of Hemmingway's wives" and the verb "were"; remember, the subject here is not "wives" rather it is "Each" which is singular. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.
Choice B: This answer choice features a disagreement between the pronoun "each" and the noun "wives"; "each" must refer to a singular noun, among a multitude, while "wives" is plural. The appropriate construction is "each of them
one of Hemmingway's wives". This answer choice also presents vital information between two hyphens, which in this case function as commas; if the phrase "each of them Hemingway’s wives" was removed from the sentence, the pronoun "his" would have no antecedent. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.
Choice C: This answer choice maintains proper subject-verb agreement and pronoun use throughout the sentence and avoids the error of presenting vital information between two commas. Thus, this answer choice is correct.
Choice D: This answer choice features a subject-verb disagreement between "women" and "was"; remember, in this answer choice the subject is "Strong and interesting women" and the following two clauses modify this subject by naming the concerned women and informing us that each was a wife of Hemmingway. Therefore, the subject will remain in the plural form. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.
Choice E: This answer choice features a disagreement between the pronoun phrase "every one of Hemmingway's wives" and the verb "was", as the former is singular and the latter is plural. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.
Hence, C is the best answer choice.One important thing to note here is that the use of the possessive pronoun "his" in this sentence is perfectly correct; here, the possessive noun "Hemmingway's" serves are the antecedent for "his".
To understand the concept of "Possessive Pronoun can be Used with Possessive Noun on GMAT", you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):
To understand the concept of "Extra Information Between two Commas on GMAT", you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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