The plot of The Bostonians centers on the rivalry between Olive Chance

Question

The plot of  The Bostonians  centers on the  rivalry between Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, with her charming and cynical cousin, Basil Ransom , when they find themselves drawn to the same radiant young woman whose talent for public speaking has won her an ardent following.

(A) rivalry between Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, with her charming and cynical cousin, Basil Ransom

(B) rivals Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, against her charming and cynical cousin, Basil Ransom

(C) rivalry that develops between Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, and Basil Ransom, her charming and cynical cousin

(D) developing rivalry between Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, with Basil Ransom, her charming and cynical cousin

(E) active feminist, Olive Chancellor, and the rivalry with her charming and cynical cousin Basil Ransom

The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 10th Edition, 2003

Practice Question  
Question No.: SC 217
Page: 667

WaterFlowsUp · Accepted Answer

(A) rivalry between Olive Chancellor, an active feminist,with her charming and cynical cousin Basil Ransom, - Incorrect Idiom

(B)rivals Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, against her charming and cynical cousin, - Incorrect Idiom

C) rivalry that develops between Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, and Basil Ransom, her charming and cynical cousin, - Correct

(D) developing rivalry between Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, with Basil Ransom, her charming and cynical cousin, - Incorrect Idiom

(E) active feminist, Olive Chancellor, and the rivalry with her charming and cynical cousin Basil Ransom - change in meaning. This option incorrectly links Olive Chancellor and rivalry, making the usage of "they" suspect

Consider a kudos if you find this useful

nov79 · Answer

The correct answer is C.

Idiom - Between X and Y (not X with Y) - exclude A, D.

B. Rivalry - not rivals. The phrase is about the rivalry.
E. The plot concerns the rivalry not the feminist.

veenu08 · Answer

In option  C  can some one please explain me her is referring to whom.. isn't it leading to pronoun ambiguity.?

Regards,
Veenu

Gian · Answer

Concept Tested  : Idioms -> Between  X  and  Y

A : rivalry between Olive Chancellor,  an active feminist ,  with  her charming and cynical cousin, Basil Ransom
 B : distorts meaning
 C : rivalry that develops between Olive Chancellor,  an active feminist , and Basil Ransom,  her charming and cynical cousin 
Just remove the additional info and focus on the main X (Olive Chancellor) and Y (Basil Ransom).  her  is followed by a comma and is correctly referring to the closest noun  Basil Ransom .
 D : developing rivalry between Olive Chancellor,  an active feminist ,  with  Basil Ransom, her charming and cynical cousin 
 E : active feminist Olive Chancellor, and the rivalry with her charming and cynical cousin Basil Ransom => distorts meaning

Hope it helps.

chaitanyakankanaka · Answer

Hi,

In option C the usage of "her" made me to opt A. Can anyone explain the use of pronoun her in option C?

pinoygmat · Answer

the correct idiom is "between x and y" where x and y have to be parallel ... this is the reason why A is incorrect --- "between x with y" kudos pls

thanks!

BrainLab · Answer

I didn't know this idiom... used other ways to determine a right anwer: ....When they find etc. is a subordinate clause
(A) rivalry between Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, with her charming and cynical cousin, Basil Ransom  --> is a SENTENCE FRAGMENT as it lacks a main verb 
(B) rivals Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, against her charming and cynical cousin, Basil Ransom  --> is a SENTENCE FRAGMENT as it lacks a main verb 
(C) rivalry that develops between Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, and Basil Ransom, her charming and cynical cousin -->  has a main verb 
(D) developing rivalry between Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, with Basil Ransom, her charming and cynical cousin --> is a SENTENCE FRAGMENT as it lacks a main verb 
(E) active feminist. Olive Chancellor, and the rivalry with her charming and cynical cousin Basil Ranso --> is a SENTENCE FRAGMENT as it lacks a main verb m

daagh · Answer

Bostonian means people from Boston; Olive Chancellor is a woman and Basil Ransom is a man. So 'her' can't refer to Basil Ransom

mbaapp1234 · Answer

A "Rivalry... with" is not idiomatic.
B "Rivals... against" is not idiomatic.
C Correct
D "Rivals... between...with" is not idiomatic. 
E "Rivalry... with" is not idiomatic.

ydmuley · Answer

The usage should be: rivalry   between x and y   or   rivals x and y

A - "with" incorrect - Correct Idiom - "between x and y"

B - "Against" is incorrect - Correct Idiom - "rivals x and y"

C - Correct - Using Idiom - "between x and y"

D - "with" incorrect - Correct Idiom - "between x and y"

E - Changes the meaning

sidjain93 · Answer

Can someone explain the use of "when" in this sentence.

daagh · Answer

Sidjain

'When' here refers to that  particular moment  when a deep rivalry starts to build up between the female Olive and her male cousin, probably a kind of triangular knot that develops out of jealousy when they both discover that both of them are attracted to one and the same woman. It is also probable that the relation between Olive and the radiant woman was a woman-to-woman relationship

When correctly brings the timeline of the emergence of the rivalry.

ankaua · Answer

Let me also point it out (and if my thought process is incorrect, would be happy to be acknowledged)
that one more reason to PoE incorrect choices here is that proper noun (Olive Chancellor and Basil Ransom) cannot be used as clarifications, set up by two commas. So A and B are incorrect for this reason as well: 
 (A) rivalry between Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, with  her charming and cynical cousin , Basil Ransom

(B) rivals Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, against  her charming and cynical cousin , Basil Ransom

daagh · Answer

Basil is always a male's name, meaning King and has its root from The Greek. Do we ever doubt Mahadev as a girl's name? Famous names with Basil are Bail Rajapaksa, the Ceylonese politician, and Basil D'Olivera a former South African Cricketer.
But what is the point in seeing a ghost when none exists?

daagh · Answer

ankaua 
I am afraid that the entire structure has been reversed in your reasoning. Please note that Basil and Olivia remain proper nouns and are not clarifications. It is the 'active feminist' phrase and 'her charming cousin', which are the clarifications or the descriptive modifiers (called the Appositive modifiers).

ankaua · Answer

daagh , thanks for your reply. I've re-checked my error log to find out the sources, from which I got at some point this idea. Found this question: https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-author-h ... 64731.html After studying this question, I made a note that proper names are essential modifiers, so cannot be set off by commas . This concepts rules out the choice D ( The author , Herman Melville, and the poet , Walt Whitman, are icons ) in the referenced question. Won't same rule work for the subjected question as well?

AjiteshArun · Answer

No, at least not in this case.

The plot of The Bostonians centers on the rivalry that develops between  Olive Chancellor,  an active feminist, and Basil Ransom,   her  charming and cynical cousin ...

The  her charming and cynical cousin  just describes  Basil Ransom , and the  her  does not refer to  Basil Ransom . For example:

Irene Joliot-Curie was as famous as Marie Curie, her mother.

Irene Joliot-Curie was as famous as Marie Curie, Irene Joliot-Curie's mother. 
  Irene Joliot-Curie was as famous as Marie Curie, Marie Curie's mother.

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

The  idiom  that we need to know here is simply  ‘between X and Y'.

This question complicates it by inserting appositives in between to confuse the reader. 
For an appositive to work, it has to be placed right next to the word it is modifying.

‘an active feminist’ describes Olive Chancellor and ‘her charming and cynical cousin’ describes/modifies Basil Ransom.

Now, let’s scan the options:

(A) rivalry  between  Olive Chancellor, an active feminist,  with  her charming and cynical cousin, Basil Ransom

(B)  rivals  Olive Chancellor, an active feminist,  against  her charming and cynical cousin, Basil Ransom

(C) rivalry that  develops between  Olive Chancellor, an active feminist,  and  Basil Ransom, her charming and cynical cousin

(D) developing rivalry  between  Olive Chancellor, an active feminist,  with  Basil Ransom, her charming and cynical cousin

(E) active feminist, Olive Chancellor,  and the rivalry with  her charming and cynical cousin Basil Ransom

Eliminate A, B, D and E.

Even if you don’t know the idiom, you can use the  meaning approach  to eliminate the other options.

Option C  is the best choice.

Hope this helps!

Tanchat · Answer

Can anyone explain the reason why (E) is wrong?

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The plot of The Bostonians centers on the rivalry between Olive Chance

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

The plot of The Bostonians centers on the rivalry between Olive Chance

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