Few composers have been celebrated for their lyric writing

Question

Few composers have been celebrated for their lyric writing as much as the lyrics of Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling.

A. Few composers have been celebrated for their lyric writing as much as the lyrics of Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling.

B. Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling has been celebrated for his lyric writing as few composers have.

C. Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling has been celebrated for his lyric writing more than few composers have.

D. Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling has been celebrated for his lyric writing as few composers has been.

E. Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling have been celebrated for lyric writing as few composers have.

mikemcgarry · Accepted Answer

I'm happy to help. :-)

BTW, John Dowling wrote some truly beautiful music! Choice (A) compares " few composers " to the " lyrics " of Dowling, a totally incorrect comparison. Choice (A) must be incorrect. John Dowling is singular and must have a singular verb, " has ". Choice (E) uses a plural verb, and is incorrect. The noun " few composers " is plural, and must have the plural verb " have ". Choice (D) uses a singular verb, and is incorrect. Choice (C) awkwardly changes the meaning. If Dowling was celebrated "more than a few composer", that would imply that Dowling was more than a few, but less than most, so he would be toward the bottom of the pack. That's not what the sentence is trying to say. Therefore, (C) is wrong. Choice (B) is correct, and it elegantly says precisely what the sentence is trying to say. It properly places Dowling in an elite group, the group of those special few composers who are widely celebrated for their lyrics. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear kassim , With all due respect, my friend, punctuation is a necessary part of communication, and the absence of it makes your question somewhat hard to interpret. I believe you are asking, with the proper punctuation and grammar: "If the answer in D were "has been", would it still be correct? and what is the difference between "has" and has "been"? Here is version (D) , which is not the correct answer. Something can't " still " be correct if it is not correct. Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling has been celebrated for his lyric writing as few composers has been . This has a problem with SV agreement at the end: the subject " few composers " is plural, and the verb " has been " is singular. I think your question is about what has to be said at the end. Let's look at version (B) , the OA. Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling has been celebrated for his lyric writing as few composers have . That's 100% correct. Now, consider these variations: Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling has been celebrated for his lyric writing as few composers have been . Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling has been celebrated for his lyric writing as few composers have been celebrated . Both of those are grammatically correct, but because they make the sentence longer than necessarily, they are rhetorically problematic. Remember, the GMAT SC is about much much more than just grammar. In parallel, we can omit repeated words, and both those extra words, "been" and "celebrated", were already stated in the first branch of the parallelism, so it is not necessary to state them again, and making the sentence longer for no good reason is not something the GMAT SC likes at all. Here's a blog about Rhetorical Construction, one of the most important areas tested on the GMAT SC: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/rhetorical ... orrection/ Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

kassim · Answer

Mr. Mike,

if the answer in D was has been will it still be correct? and what is the difference between has and has been?

avohden · Answer

Official Explanation  
   Answer B   - The original and three answer choices contain Comparison errors. Choice (A) illogically compares “Few composers” to “the lyrics of . . .” Choice (B), which is correct, makes it clear that Dowling has been celebrated “as few composers have.”

Choice (C) confusingly uses “more,” indicating that Dowling has been celebrated “more then few composers.” This construction creates an illogical meaning.

A subject-verb Agreement error exists in (D), which joins the plural “composers” to “has been.” On the other hand, choice (E) joins singular Dowling to the plural verb “have been.”

Zatmah · Answer

why is E incorrect ? I though the use of "and" makes the subject plural!! Please help

avohden · Answer

In E, the use of   and   is a conjunction used to join two adjectives to describe John Dowling.

John Dowling is an Elizabethan composer and lutenist.

You may be confusing   Elizabethan   for a subject but its an adjective describing composer.

Therefore the subject is singular and verb is incorrect in the use of   have  .

Hope that helps.

avohden · Answer

Zatmah - You should check out the free grammar book available in the club called Ultimate GMAT Grammar Book. Here is the  link  or you can find it through the search box.

sagarsir · Answer

Few composers have been celebrated for their lyric writing as much as the lyrics of Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling.

Few composers have been celebrated for their lyric writing as much as the lyrics of Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling.--- incorrect comparison... Composers with lyrics
Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling has been celebrated for his lyric writing as few composers have.--- CORRECT
Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling has been celebrated for his lyric writing more than few composers have.... As preferred when comparing clauses (option B)
Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling has been celebrated for his lyric writing as few composers has been--- composers has been.... Incorrect
Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling have been celebrated for lyric writing as few composers have---John cowling have... Incorrect

Kudos... If you like

adityadon · Answer

Here , Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling are two different pesrons right ? so answer should contain "have"

sagarsir · Answer

----- it's a modifer ant two persons.

sagarsir · Answer

Here , Elizabethan composer and lutenist modifies John Downing..

Focus on composer and lutenist... What kind of composer? --- Elizabethan... What kind of lutenist?--- Elizabethan. 
What kind of composer and lutenist is Jon Downing?--- Elizabethan.

Hope this helps!!

Divyadisha · Answer

Comparison can be between two things:-

Lyrics of John Dowling were celebrated as those of other composers.
JD was celebrated for his lyric writing as others were celebrated.

A. Few composers have been celebrated for their lyric writing as much as the lyrics of Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling.  'lyric writing' is compared with 'lyrics, 
B. Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling has been celebrated for his lyric writing as few composers have.  Correct choice. 2nd way is compared. 
C. Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling has been celebrated for his lyric writing more than few composers have.  'More than'??. we are looking for 'as much as' or 'similar' 
D. Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling has been celebrated for his lyric writing as few composers has been.  'composers' requires 'have'  
E. Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling have been celebrated for lyric writing as few composers have.  'his' is missing.

B is the right answer

syahasa2 · Answer

I think that many confused the "Elizabethan" with a name! -including me as well-.
That's why There's such a percentage on E!

dabhishek87 · Answer

Few composers have been celebrated for their lyric writing as much as the lyrics of Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling.

A. Few composers have been celebrated for their lyric writing as much as the lyrics of Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling.  wrong comparison 
B. Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling has been celebrated for his lyric writing as few composers have.  correct 
C. Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling has been celebrated for his lyric writing  more than  few composers have.  changes meaning 
D. Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling has been celebrated for his lyric writing as few composers  has  been.
E. Elizabethan composer and lutenist John Dowling  have  been celebrated for lyric writing as few composers have.

sriamlan · Answer

Hi MIke, I could get it now why B is right after reading your explanations, but is there a scope for the answer choice B to be better. I feel through B is right answer it can be written better.

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear sriamlan , I'm happy to respond. :-)

I would say that (B) is sophisticated and exceptionally well-written. This is exactly how a highly literate author would write the sentence. Because it is so sophisticated, it is not similar to the way that most Americans would say it, especially the large number of undereducated Americans (many of who would have no clue who John Dowland was or what a lute is!). Also, I could see that this phrasing would be particularly challenging for an intelligent reader who has learned English as a foreign language, especially if this person is accustomed to what is printed in the popular press. Unfortunately for intelligent non-native English speakers studying for the GMAT, a great deal of the popular media in the US caters to a very low bar; correspondingly, those standards will not prepare one for the GMAT. Does all this make sense, my friend? Mike :-)

bkpolymers1617 · Answer

mikemcgarry : Hey Mike. Following up on your post. I had a question. I too picked up C, but now from your above explanation, I completely understand why it can not be the right answer. But I have some reservations about Choice B- I have always learnt that whenever you use  as  for a comparison, you need to supplement one as with another. The construction therefore preferred is as....as. Now, I saw both  more  and  than  in choice C, and therefore I picked that choice- thinking that it uses a correct grammatical construction, though it screws the meaning completely. Can you throw some light on the construction B is using, and how is this form of comparison correct. I do realize that ellipsis is at work, but don t really get how we justify the comparison without using a dual  as  combination. Thanks

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear bkpolymers1617 , My friend, I'm happy to respond.

My friend, I don't know who taught you that the double " as " was an absolute necessity in a comparison, but they were teaching you a very limited cookie-cutter version of English. Perhaps they were not aware of their own limitations, I don't know. All kinds of comparisons have only one " as ." Mahler died after composing his ninth symphony, as Beethoven and Dvorak had before him. Napoleon crossed the Alps to invade Italy, as Hannibal and Charlemagne had done centuries before him. This OA has a particularly sophisticated structure: using the " as " comparison to compare a person not to someone specific but to an unspecified " few ." The " as few have " construction is an high-brow way to call attention to the way in which someone is exceptional or unique. Does all this make sense? Mike

MissionWin · Answer

A compares ‘Few composers’ to ‘the lyrics of…’. This option can be discounted, by reason of comparison error. E has an SV agreement problem. It uses a plural verb (has) for a singular subject. C changes the meaning of the sentence. ‘More than a few’ simply means John Dowling was celebrated more than a good number of other composers but not more than most. D, meanwhile, has an SV error. This option uses a singular verb for ‘few composers’

Thus, B is the correct answer.

Thus, B is the correct answer.

Few composers have been celebrated for their lyric writing

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Few composers have been celebrated for their lyric writing

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