Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better

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Q1: In choice D, 'her' is the proper antecedent for 'Elizabeth Barrett Browning's', but how 'she' is the antecedent of 'Elizabeth Barrett Browning's'?

The past perfect is certainly acceptable when there are two past actions occurring at different times. But that doesn't mean that the past perfect is always required in such situations. For example:

"Tim drank a beer and later studied for the GMAT."

In choice (D), the use of the word "later" makes the sequence of events perfectly clear, so there is really no need for the past perfect. More importantly, only one option, (C), features the past perfect, and that option has to be eliminated for other reasons.

For more on the nuances of verb tenses, check out this video.

This demonstrates why it's a bad idea to come up with black and white rules based on what we see in correct/incorrect answer choices! Yes, for clarity, we typically avoid using subject pronouns (i.e. "she") with possessive nouns (i.e. "Elizabeth Barrett Browning's").

But this is a convention, not a rule. The other choices have bigger problems, so we are forced to go against this convention -- thanks a lot, GMAT! (And yes: I've made the mistake of suggesting that the GMAT treated this as a rule in the past. I was wrong to do that.)

Remember, grammar "rules" are designed to improve clarity. In (D), there is really no question that "she" refers to "Elizabeth Barrett Browning." So I guess we have to live with it.

I hope that helps a bit!

This one is inherently about meaning and I myself, admittedly, missed the error in B (and elsewhere)

Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better poet than her husband, later Elizabeth Barrett Browning was overshadowed by his success.


(A) Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better poet than her husband, later Elizabeth Barrett Browning was overshadowed by his success.X

There are two errors here. The first error is that the subordinate clause starting with 'although' is followed up by 'later' after the comma. Browning should follow the comma. Error #2 is the sentence conveys that Barrett herself was overshadowed by her husband's success when it should be the case that her success was overshadowed by his (success).

(B) Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning was considered among her contemporaries as a better poet than her husband, she was later overshadowed by his success.

Tthe sentence conveys that Barrett herself was overshadowed by her husband's success when it should be the case that her success was overshadowed by his (success).

(C) Later overshadowed by the success of her husband, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry had been considered among her contemporaries to be better than that of her husband.

This suffers from a modification errior.

(D) Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning's success was later overshadowed by that of her husband, among her contemporaries she was considered the better poet.

Correct

(E) Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry was considered among her contemporaries as better than her husband, but her success was later overshadowed by his. X

Browning's poetry cannot be considered than a human being.

(A) Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better poet than her husband, later Elizabeth Barrett Browning was overshadowed by his success.

The correct idiomatic use of considered is Consider XY
ie. I consider myself a close friend of John
Not
I consider myself to be a close friend of John
I consider myself as a close friend of John

(B) Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning was considered among her contemporaries as a better poet than her husband, she was later overshadowed by his success.

Same Reason used to nullify option A

(C) Later overshadowed by the success of her husband, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry had been considered among her contemporaries to be better than that of her husband.

Same Reason used to nullify option A

(D) Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning's success was later overshadowed by that of her husband, among her contemporaries she was considered the better poet. Correct

(E) Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry was considered among her contemporaries as better than her husband, but her success was later overshadowed by his.

Here an illogical comparison has been made between EBB's poetry and her husband.

Hi EMPOWERgmatVerbal - Consider X Y is the correct idiom
-- Do X and Y have to be gramatically parallel ? Example - if X is a noun, does Y HAVE to be a noun ONLY ? If X is a clause, does Y HAVE to be a clause only ?

If so, would a sentence like this be WRONG ?
I consider John wise
- John = noun
- Wise = adjective

Would this be wrong ?

Hi jabhatta2,

Until you receive a more complete reply: the complement can be either a noun or an adjective.

Hi AjiteshArun -thank you for relpying .

Are you saying in my example [I consider John wise] - the adjecive (Wise) is a noun ?

I think these are called Nominalized adjectives. (adjectives that function as nouns as in 'the poor, the rich, the English')

The word "wise" can be used as a noun [The wise tend to be successfull]. In this other example -- the adjective "wise" is actually a noun

jabhatta2

Although "the wise" can be used as a noun, that's not what you have in your example. It may help to think of "consider X Y" as meaning "think that X is Y." Note that this works with either a noun or an adjective in the Y position. So if I say "I consider John wise," it means "I think that John is wise" (adjective). If I say "I consider John a terrible musician," it means "I think that John is a terrible musician" (noun phrase).

Hi jabhatta2,

That wise is an adjective, not a noun.

I think in option D the pronoun "she" is referring to "poet" so looks consistent what GMAT does. GMATNinja do you agree?

I rejected option-D because pronoun "She" do not have antecedent. Can someone help me understand what she refers back to?

(D) Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning's success was later overshadowed by that of her husband, among her contemporaries she was considered the better poet.

Hi HawkArabian,

Are you thinking about the "a possessive noun can't be the antecedent for a subject or object pronoun" rule? That "rule" is a problematic one, at best. Generally speaking, we should try not to treat it as an "absolute" rule (that, or maybe not use it all).

Hello HawkArabian,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, "she" refers to "Elizabeth Barrett Browning".

As AjiteshArun has said, the rule that only possessive pronouns can refer to possessive nouns is not one that the GMAT really follows anymore; thus, a subject or object pronoun can be used to refer to the base of a possessive noun.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

GMATNinja
You mentioned in one of your videos (about Pronouns) that it is a GMAT rule that the pronoun can never refer back to possessive ('s). For example - Amber's husband eats so much that she calls him a pig. Here, 'she' can't refer back to 'Amber' as per this rule and 'she' doesn't have an antecedent.
Isn't this rule getting broken here?
TIA!

ktzsikka

Actually, that is not a rule that the GMAT uses. Long ago, we taught that it was, but the GMAT showed otherwise. Live and learn!

Except for very few topics (such as Subject-verb agreement), there aren't many iron-clad rules in SC; they are mostly preferences.

This post should give you more clarity on the issue being discussed.