The writings of Jorge Luis Borges have been compared to many

A states that the writings of Jorge Luis Borges have been compared to many other authors, this is incorrect. We need to compare the writings of Jorge Luis Burges with the writings of other authors.

A - Incorrectly compares writings with authors

B - Correctly compares writings of Jorge with those of other authors, a bit wordy but keep it for now.

C - starts of comparing the writings but then switches to the possessive case, "Franz Kafka's and James Joyce's". Eliminate

D - This choice ends with "but with a unique style". Whose style are we talking about?

E - This sentence repeats the same error as D, "but whose style is a unique one"

B wins..

The writings of Jorge Luis Borges have been compared to many other authors. Franz Kafka and James Jovce in particular, but with a style that is unique.

A. many other authors, Franz Kafka and James Joyce in particular, but with a style that is unique
wrong comparison, writings is compared to authors
B. those of many other authors, Franz Kafka and James Joyce in particular, but, in fact, his style is unique
Correct
C. those of many other authors, with Franz Kafka's and James Joyce's in particular, but whose style is in fact, unique
Franz Kafka's and James Joyce's should modify author, but it does not, hence incorrect
D. that of many other authors, Franz Kafka's and James Joyce's in particular, but with a unique style
Franz Kafka's and James Joyce's should modify author, but it does not, hence incorrect
E. the works of many other authors, among them Franz Kafka and James Joyce in particular, but whose style is a unique one
Wrong comparison, writings is compared to works

I picked A because I thought 'compared to' compares Apples : Oranges whereas 'compared with" compares Apples : Apples

Also, I though 'his' doesn't have a antecedent in B because Jorge is in a prep and a PN can't link to a subject in a prep.

can an expert please help clarify? Thanks!

luks like B to me....

whats the OA

I chose option E because I thought that B compares the "writings of Jorge..." with Franz Kafka and James Joyce. The problem is that I'm still convinced with my theory. Could someone help me?

Hi Falena, if that were the case, the sentence would be:

The writings of Jorge Luis Borges have been compared to many other authors, , Franz Kafka and James Joyce in particular..

However, B actually states:

The writings of Jorge Luis Borges have been compared to those of many other authors, , Franz Kafka and James Joyce in particular..

So, the presence of those of makes the reference back to writings.

The writings of Jorge Luis Borges have been compared to many other authors. Franz Kafka and James Jovce in particular, but with a style that is unique.

A. many other authors, Franz Kafka and James Joyce in particular, but with a style that is unique

Here, writings are compared with people "Franz Kafka and James Joyce". Hence, wrong.

B. those of many other authors, Franz Kafka and James Joyce in particular, but, in fact, his style is unique

Here, "his" refers to Luis Borges. However, can someone explain, why "his" is not ambiguous here?

C. those of many other authors, with Franz Kafka's and James Joyce's in particular, but whose style is in fact, unique

"whose" refers to people, animals, nouns before it etc. Here, the only thing before "whose" and the only thing "whose" can refers to is "Franz Kafka's and James Joyce's". This would not make sense. This would make it sounds like: Franz Kafka's's style and James Joyce's's style.

D. that of many other authors, Franz Kafka's and James Joyce's in particular, but with a unique style

"that" refers to "writings" but "writings" is plural.

E. the works of many other authors, among them Franz Kafka and James Joyce in particular, but whose style is a unique one

Here, "whose" is grammatically correct when it refers to "Franz Kafka and James Joyce". However, the intended meaning is to modify Luis Borges.

Exactly, even I am bit confused with B. 'his' in option B is bit ambiguous. Bunuel can you explain?

Hello nsdl1985,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the use of "his" is a bit ambiguous here, but it is fairly clear from the context that it refers to "Jorge Luis Borges"; as all the other answer choices have much more concrete errors, Option B is still the most appropriate answer choice.

Remember, on GMAT you need to look for the best answer choice, not a perfect one.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

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