John Grisham's stay at the prison inspired him to write several novels

Question

John Grisham's stay at the prison inspired him to write several novels ; travels can still visit Alcatraz, the model for the prison in one of Grisham's most famous books.

(A) John Grisham's stay at the prison inspired him to write several novels
(B) Because of his stay at the prison, John Grisham was able to use the inspiration for several of his novels
(C) Because of prison, John Grisham was able to use the stay as inspiration for several of his novels
(D) John Grisham was inspired to incorporate the stay at prison into several of his novels
(E) John Grisham's stay at the prison served as inspiration for several of his novels

What do you say? This is a customized one (modeled after another test question :wink: )

phillypointgod21 · Accepted Answer

John Grisham's stay at the prison inspired him to write several novels; travels can still visit Alcatraz, the model for the prison in one of Grisham's most famous books.

1) John Grisham's stay at the prison inspired him to write several novels
2) Because of his stay at the prison, John Grisham was able to use the inspiration for several of his novels
3) Because of prison, John Grisham was able to use the stay as inspiration for several of his novels
4) John Grisham was inspired to incorporate the stay at prison into several of his novels
5) John Grisham's stay at the prison served as inspiration for several of his novels

A) Correct...if you change "travels" to "travelers". However, E may be a better choice because it is more concise.
B) Too wordy. Moreover, inspiration does not logically refer back to anything else in the sentence. 
C) Awkward sentence construction. "Prision" and "the stay" do not seem like logical items to compare. 
D) It is illogical to incorporate a stay at prison into a novel.
E) Correct...if it replaces the entire stem of the question. As the question is written, I am not clear if we are to judge the entire statement, or only a part of it.

zaarathelab · Answer

John Grisham's stay at the prison inspired him to write several novels; travels can still visit Alcatraz, the model for the prison in one of Grisham's most famous books.

1) John Grisham's stay at the prison inspired him to write several novels
2) Because of his stay at the prison, John Grisham was able to use the inspiration for several of his novels
3) Because of prison, John Grisham was able to use the stay as inspiration for several of his novels
4) John Grisham was inspired to incorporate the stay at prison into several of his novels
5) John Grisham's stay at the prison served as inspiration for several of his novels

This seems to be a tricky one. Cant choose any for sure. Are u sure you've framed it properly?

A is incorrect because of incorrect pronoun usage. 'Him' should be replaced with John.
E seems best

whats the OA?

crazyquant · Answer

E - would be my answer.

A is clearly wrong because of "him" but the sub being John's. So, him needs to be John instead. Well, there is no such option
"his stay in the prison" is the inspiration. So, that rules out B C.
D and E seem to convey the right meanings. But D is poorly constructed.

- Prasanna

yangsta8 · Answer

But who does "his" refer to in E. John Grisham is not given as the subject in any part of the sentence.

gmattokyo · Answer

Him is not correct. Usage of His is ok as that is possessive too.. grisham's stay, grisham's novel (second occurrence, name replaced by "his").

here is what i have in notes for possessive poison (may assist in understanding):
Jose's room is so messy that HIS mother calls HIM a pig.

Here HIS is fine because that parallel with Jose's. But HIM has to be corrected:
Jose's room is so messy that HIS mother calls Jose a pig.

HTH

Prometoh · Answer

John Grisham's stay at the prison inspired him to write several novels; travels can still visit Alcatraz, the model for the prison in one of Grisham's most famous books.

1) John Grisham's stay at the prison inspired him to write several novels
2) Because of his stay at the prison, John Grisham was able to use the inspiration for several of his novels
3) Because of prison, John Grisham was able to use the stay as inspiration for several of his novels
4) John Grisham was inspired to incorporate the stay at prison into several of his novels
5) John Grisham's stay at the prison served as inspiration for several of his novels

E looks good for me

A - John Grisham's ... him --> pronoun error
B and D distort the meaning - it is the stay that inspires his novel
C is close but seems more awkward than E and inspiration is unclear.

fameatop · Answer

Answer has to be D .
Objective pronoun can never refers to Possessive noun, thus option A & E are eliminated.
It was "Stay at the prison" & not the "Prison itself" that inspired Grisham to write novels, thus option C is out.
Option B, completely changes the intended meaning in that it says "Grisham was able to use inspiration because he stayed in the prison" in any other case "he was not able to use the inspiration"

Note:- 
1) Kindly do not post questions unless you are sure of their quality 
2) Kindly share the source of the question so that the followers do not suffer much.

Fame

ankitdimania · Answer

When possessive nouns are used, we can NOT use pronouns to refer back to them.
e.g. Ravi's diary helps him keep track of expenditure. this is incorrect because him can't refer back to possessive "Ravi's diary" form, as if there is no Ravi mentioned at all.
although, this is correct - Ravi's healthy habits keep his posture correct. Possessive pronoun refers back to possessive noun.

Why is  Grisham's  mentioned in the non-underline part?
The reason would be because John Grisham (noun) is not mentioned in the non-underline part (mostly because it is present as Grisham's).

John Grisham's stay at the prison inspired him to write several novels ; travels   can still visit Alcatraz, the model for the prison in one of Grisham's most famous books.

(A)  John Grisham's  stay at the prison  inspired   him  to write several novels
1. here a bit of personification is going on. Stay at prison is inspiring Grisham.
2. "him" doesn't have a noun to refer to

(B) Because of his stay at the prison,  John Grisham  was  able to  use the  inspiration  for several of his novels
1. "Because of his stay at prison" is an adverbial modifier (modifies "was able to"). which is correct
2. John Grisham is the subject here, so there is no need to say Grisham's in non-underline part, can just say "his most famous books"
3. This says -- Without stay Grisham was not able to use the inspiration?

(C) Because of prison,  John Grisham  was  able to  use the stay as inspiration for several of his novels
1. This says, John was not able to use the say as inspiration without prison.
2. Subject is John Grisham, we don't need Grisham's in non-underline part.

(D)  John Grisham  was inspired  to incorporate  the stay at prison into several of his novels
1. Subject is John Grisham, we don't need Grisham's in non-underline part.
2. John Grisham was inspired by his stay at prison -- this meaning is missing here.
3. John Grisham incorporated stay into his novels -- this is a new meaning here.

(E)  John Grisham's  stay at the prison  served as inspiration  for several of  his  novels
his can refer back to Grisham's (possessive pronoun to possessive noun)

IanStewart · Answer

This is a bizarre question but I think only fameatop's explanation above makes any sense, and D is the only answer that could conceivably be right. The other answers (A and E) that might seem tempting don't make sense, because (among other logic issues) they talk about " the  prison" before any particular prison has been mentioned. I don't see how the OA here can be correct.

NikuHBS · Answer

I would love to disagree with you on this one. “The prison” does indeed refer to a specific prison that should (must) have been talked about, BUT I have an official question that uses “these storms” in all the five options without ever mentioning storm before. Check this out https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-growth-p ... 42635.html Regarding the pronouns “him/his/he” referring to a “possessive noun”, you might want to check out 1. “Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s success was later overshadowed....” 2. Among the objects found .... Terra cotta effigies Both are official questions and have used “subject pronoun, object pronouns, and possessive pronouns” to refer to a “possessive noun” Cheers 🥂 Posted from my mobile device

IanStewart · Answer

When I wrote this:

the second half of that sentence was important. There would be nothing wrong with an SC answer that said something like:

Ali enjoyed his stay at the hotel.

There would be an issue, though, with a sentence like this:

Ali enjoyed his stay at the hotel; travellers can still visit the Excelsior.

It now becomes a question: is "the hotel" "the Excelsior", or is "the hotel" some hotel mentioned in a previous sentence that we're not able to read? If "the hotel" is indeed "the Excelsior", it then becomes a mystery why the sentence isn't phrased this way:

Ali enjoyed his stay at the Excelsior; travellers can still visit the hotel.

If "the hotel" refers to some other hotel mentioned earlier, it then becomes a mystery why these two clauses are joined by a semicolon, because if "the hotel" is not "the Excelsior", the two clauses have almost nothing to do with each other. Semicolons and periods can't be used interchangeably; a semicolon is only appropriate (in this kind of usage) when two sentences enjoy such a strong logical dependence that there's a risk that using a period might make that dependence obscure.

That's what distinguishes the question in this thread from the official question, about "these storms", that you link to. In that official question, no specific storms are mentioned elsewhere, so those sentences are similar to the first sentence above: "Ali enjoyed his stay at the hotel." That sentence is fine. In the question in this thread, though, a specific prison is mentioned later in the sentence: Alcatraz. If, in answers A or E, that's the same "prison" mentioned in the first half of the sentence, why is it not named in the first half of the sentence? And if it's a different prison, why are these two clauses joined by a semicolon? I can't even tell how to interpret the sentences in A or E (which is an issue all on its own), but no matter how you interpret them, they're problematic. Answer D, though, resolves those issues.

I agree with you about pronouns and possessive nouns. I think some SC books teach some grammar "rules" that don't actually exist. English is a flexible language, and a lot of the "rules" people imagine exist have many exceptions, which is why I don't like the "learn a lot of rules, then try to figure out how to apply them" approach many books take to SC.

Rickooreo · Answer

Can someone please share the solution to this question, unable to solve, also as per Ian Stewart, there is a discrepancy

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John Grisham's stay at the prison inspired him to write several novels

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

John Grisham's stay at the prison inspired him to write several novels

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