In the English-Speaking world Anton Chekhov is by far better

(A) by far better known for his plays than for his short stories, but it was during his lifetime that
(B) by far better known for his plays than he was for his short stories, but during his lifetime
(C) known far better for his plays than he was for his short stories, but during his lifetime
(D) far better known for his plays than were his short stories, but it was during his lifetime that
(E) far better known for his plays than for his short stories, but during his lifetime



The whole exercise here is about avoiding redundancy and remaining concise. Without even looking at the initial statement, one can arrive at the correct choice.

Compare the two phrases than for his short stories vs. than he was for his short stories. The latter phrase is annoyingly wordy.

Therefore, we can drop B and C.
Choice D is illegally comparing Anton with his stories. -- gone.
Between A and E, in A, the phrase --- it was during his lifetime that-- is yet again irritably wordy. E is short, sweet, and a cakewalk
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HI GMATNinja, mikemcgarry, generis

Can you please me with this problem? How do we eliminate POE by Verb Tense and Comparison?

In the English-Speaking world Anton Chekhov is by far better known for his plays than for his short stories, but it was during his lifetime that Chekhov's stories made him popular while his plays were given a more ambivalent reception, even by his fellow writers.

(A) by far better known for his plays than for his short stories, but it was during his lifetime that
(B) by far better known for his plays than he was for his short stories, but during his lifetime
(C) known far better for his plays than he was for his short stories, but during his lifetime
(D) far better known for his plays than were his short stories, but it was during his lifetime that
(E) far better known for his plays than for his short stories, but during his lifetime
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Here is the Official explanation, although it's a poor one:

Idiom; Rhetorical construction

The point of this sentence is to contrast Anton Chekhov’s current reputation in the English-speaking world with his reputation in his own lifetime. His current reputation is described in comparative terms, using the template better (known) for . . . than for . . . .

A. The it was . . . that . . . construction introduces additional words that do not contribute to meaning. If by far is intended to modify is better known . . . it should be placed after known, or set off by commas, to prevent far from seeming to go with better. If by far is intended to modify better, this is incorrect usage.
B. He was introduces additional words that do not contribute to meaning. If by far is intended to modify is better known . . . it should be placed after known, or set off by commas, to prevent far from seeming to go with better. If by far is intended to modify better, this is incorrect usage.
C. It was introduces the grammatical need for the relative pronoun that as the subject for made. The relative pronoun is absent from the ending of the sentence, and even if it were inserted, it would introduce unnecessary verbiage.
D. This sentence attempts nonsensically to compare Chekhov’s renown for plays with his stories’ renown for plays.
E. Correct. This is the clearest, most concise way to compare the reasons Chekhov is well known now with how he was known during his lifetime.

The correct answer is E.

I am not clear why choice A is wrong.

I have an idea

it was...that
is a pattern, in which "it" is fake subject. and in this pattern, only present tense is use. so, "it was" is wrong. the text should be "it is during his lifetime that..."/

"is" not "was is correct.

am i correct?

look at choice A and E

by far is more wordy than far. so, choice a is inferior.
" it is during his lifetime that" is also wordy compared with "during his lifetime" in choice E.

there is another point.

"it was during his lifetime that...".

this pattern is used when we want to emphasize the noun before "that"

it is me who passed gmat with high score.

the focus is on "me".

it is the British girl, who I love

the focus is "the British girl".

in choice A, the focus is "during his lifetime". this is not good. we do not need this focus.

moreover, "during his lifetime" is parallel to "in english speaking world". so, choice E is better.

but I am not sure above points. pls, comment

egmat , generis , GMATNinja sayantanc2k
I came down to 2 options - B&E
and i chose B, can someone explain why B is wrong?

I am not able to understand why "plays vs short stories" is a better comparison than " famous for plays than he was for his short stories".
Thanks in advance

Hello experts,
I was wondering whether you could help out with answer choice A, the reason I eliminated A is because of the second part , "but IT was during his ...., I felt that in comparison with E , A is inferior (it is redundant) , however I have read in the OE that there is something wrong with the placement of the phrase "by far" , I couldn't get what the OE was trying to say, so I was wondering whether you could shed some light.

How often does a non-demonstrative pronoun is correct on GGMAT?

UNSTOPPABLE12
You're right that there is a problem with "it was during his lifetime." This appears to be making a comparison we don't want. "When did C's stories make him popular? It was in his lifetime, not after his death." The contrast we really want is between now, when Chekhov is better known for his plays, and his lifetime, when he was popular for his stories." I'd say that this is the most critical flaw in A.

The issue with "by far" is more a matter of convention. Since "by far" is a prepositional phrase, we would usually put it after the term it modifies ("better known") rather than before. "Far" is just working as a simple adverb, so it goes before the term. A few examples:

The remake is far superior to the original.
The pool installation was far more expensive than I expected.
Sam Cooke was a greater singer by far than anyone on the radio today. (Note that "by far" modifies "greater," even though "singer" gets in between. It's an adverbial modifier, so we don't always have to put it right next to what it's modifying. In fact, in a case like this we just can't.)
Your score exceeds the required minimum by over 20%. (This isn't just about "by far." We put "by 20%" after the whole phrase because it would be disruptive (but not necessarily wrong) to put "by 20%" after "exceeds." It would be flat-out wrong to place "by 20%" before "exceeds."

Here's another official GMAT question that uses the same split. Try it before reading the bit below: https://gmatclub.com/forum/some-scienti ... 20827.html


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Notice that in that question, the "by far" answers both have other bigger flaws, just as in the Chekhov question. However, there's no real need to say "exceed by far" when we can say "far exceed," so GMAC could also say that the construction in the right answer is preferable.
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lakshya14

I assume you're referring in this case to "it was during his lifetime." This kind of "placeholder it" usage is fairly common. In fact, I just found myself commenting on an official (correct) usage this evening: https://gmatclub.com/forum/it-was-only- ... 24268.html
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Hi DmitryFarber - In option A, when the phrase in red is used -- isn't the author talking about Chekhov's life time ? The author seems to be talking about something that happened during Chekhov's life time.

I don't see what's wrong in using the "past tense" here.

jabhatta2
The trouble is not with the past tense. If you look at E, "during his lifetime" is just a modifier, and it is followed by a past tense statement: "C's stories made him popular." So E uses the past tense, too. The problem is one of meaning. The phrase "it was during his lifetime" implies that the author is trying to clarify when C's stories made him popular. Did they make him popular in his lifetime or after? But that doesn't fit with the second half of the comparison, which talks about his plays. The correct answer is contrasting which of C's works were popular at different times: his stories during his lifetime, and his plays after his death.
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IS 'it' a placeholder in A]. How to identify?

Basically you should substitute "it" with "what".

So, you should ask:

What was during his lifetime?

Answer: that Chekhov's stories made him popular.

So, "it" refers to the clause "that Chekhov's stories made him popular".

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses such usages where pronoun is used before the antecident, their application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.
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Hi GMATGuruNY -

When it comes to (C) and (d) - you mention parallelism as an issue. Here is the screenshot

GMATGuruNY - ^^ Question : but I thought (C) and (D) was STILL parallel because clauses ARE parallel

In (c) and (d) -- the red and blue are clauses

Thoughts ?

I have inserted in brackets - parts that are obviously ellipsed but i think (C) and (d) - are PARALLEL if you believe clauses can be parallel

MartyTargetTestPrep DmitryFarber

the comparison doesnt make sense in all 5 answer choices - The comparison SHOULD BE between the English Speaking world and the NON-ENGLISH speaking world

This is what I was expecting


None of the 5 answer choices do that

In fact -- ALL 5 answer choices MAKE THIS COMPARISON instead , i.e. between English Speaking world vs Time when he was alive




Would you agree ?

I would agree that the sentence is a little strange.

The idea is that, during his lifetime, Chekhov lived in Russia. So, "during his lifetime," his works were seen by non-English speaking people. Then, later, they were seen by English speaking people.

So, the sentence is strange because it doesn't make that sequence of events clear.

That said, it's not necessary for ideas connected by "but" to contrast perfectly. So, the way in which the sentence is written could be considered correct in terms of structure.
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Hi MartyTargetTestPrep DmitryFarber - both of you experts mention regarding (A) - the phrase It was during his lifetime creates a comparison error.

Marty - you mention that bellow (yellow highlight in screenshot)
Dmitry - you mention that in this Post by Dmtry Here

Why does the comparison allegedly go wrong with the phrase "it was during his lifetime (in A) but the comparison is okay because of the phrase during his lifetime (in E) ?

I have read your explanations but i am not able to understand.

The phrases are almost the same. The only difference is in (A) - the phrase "It was during his lifetime (in A) is passive whereas the phrase During his lifetime (in E) is more concise.

I dont see any differences in the phrase in (A) vs (E)