In the thirties and forties, devotees of Willa Cather’s maintained tha

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION






• SPLIT #1: DOUBLE POSSESSIVES ARE FORBIDDEN

I think this writer's strange name made this error easier to catch.

A more subtle incorrect official example says something like this: The inflation rate in 1988 was twice that of 1989's.
In any event . . .

• on the GMAT, do not use possessive marker OF and ['s] in the same phrase

-- The word OF indicates possession: the friend of Artem (the X of Y)

-- The use of [apostrophe + S] ['s] also indicates possession: Artem's friend (Y's X)

-- On the GMAT, we can use one or the other,
but not both at the same time.
-- Wrong: the X of Y's: the friend of Artem's

• Use X's Y
or Y of X,
but not both

-- GMAC considers such use redundant. Many style guides do not. Ignore the style guides. GMAC wins.
I have never found an exception to this rule among thousands of official questions.

This sentence: The writer Willa Cather had devotees.
Correct, Xs of Y: devotees of Willa Cather
Correct, Y's Xs: Willa Cather's devotees
Wrong, Xs of Y's: devotees of Willa Cather's

Options A, B, and C erroneously use both OF and an apostrophe "s": . . . devotees of Willa Cather's . . .
ELIMINATE A, B, and C

• Split #2: Verb tense, HAS v. HAD

When do the devotees maintain (insist on) something about Cather's writing?
In the 1930s and 1940s.

The devotees maintained something about Cather's writing in the past.
Past tense of have (to possess) is had. Not has.

Option E uses present tense has.
Has = present = wrong time period for this sentence.
ELIMINATE E (and A, which also uses has)

By POE, the answer is D
• Option D correctly uses devotees of Cather
• Option D correctly uses the verb had rather than has

Notes

In option C, the use of had maintained is illogical.

Had maintained is called past perfect, "the past of the past," and is used to describe the earlier (older) of two past events.
Almost always, we need at least one event that occurred after the past perfect event and that is rendered in simple past or marked by a time stamp.

What is the second and later-in-time event?
What comes after "had maintained"?
Nothing.
Cather's writing existed.
After having read Cather’s work, her devotees maintained (declared) that Cather's writing possessed XYZ.

At the very least, what the devotees said and when they said it were simultaneous "events."
Past perfect is not quite appropriate; simple past maintained is correct.

I would not use this issue as a basis for elimination on the first pass. The issue is a close call in a strict grammar sense, but not a close call in the diction sense.

The verb tense in (C) should sound odd to native speakers.

COMMENTS

aviddd , ketanbhardwaj131 , and sahilaro23 , welcome to SC Butler.

Earlier tonight, a 13-year-old boy summoned his courage and riveted millions—in less than two minutes.
A little bit of generosity goes a long way.

Kudos to those who explained with correct reasoning.