George Sand (Aurore Lucile Dupin) was one of the first European writer

this is a question of idiom. consider can not be accompanied by - to be, as, should. - E is the answer

(A) to be legitimate subjects for literature and portray these (to be is unidiomatic + these should be them)
(B) should be legitimate subjects for literature: portray these (should do is unidiomatic + these should be them)
(C) as being legitimate subjects for literature an portraying them (as being is unidiomatic + portraying is not parallel with to consider)
(D) as if they were legitimate subjects for literal; and portray them (as if is unidiomatic + use of semicolon is wrong because a complete sentence should follow a semicolon.)
(E) legitimate subjects for literature and to portray them (correct use of consider A B idiom + parallel structure to consider.... and to portray)

Hope it helps:

https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/idi ... t2758.html

PS. A is wrong because "these" is not correct.

This is about the idiomatic use of the verb ‘consider’. Consider is a special verb that does not take an accompaniment. The template usage in this case is that you consider x something; expressions such as consider x to be something or consider x as something or consider x should be something are all wrong.

Not only And B but also C and D are all wrong. E is the correct usage

The correct idiom is consider X Y. Only E has the correct idiomatic expression

IMO E

people are referred to as "them" not these...
from the available options with "them" E is the right one..

Hey vaibhavtripathi:

Great explanation! As many have suggested, the idiom is really "I consider X Y" (omitting the "to be"), but very, very few GMAT questions (if any) will focus on an idiom like that. Here, the "these" vs. "them" distinction is more systematic - it's a pronoun error in conjunction with a structural error.

A) "...to consider the poor to be subjects for literature and portray these..." - "these" could refer to "poor" or "subjects" - it's unclear what the pronoun "these" refers to.

B) "...to consider the poor subjects for literature and to portray them..." - here "them" is set up to clearly refer to "the poor" - partially as a more logical personal pronoun ("these" is more of an adjective...these what?) and also because the "and to portray" is perfectly parallel with "to consider" meaning that the object of both verbs is thus parallel ("to consider the poor _______ and to portray THEM (the poor) ______")


While the idiom may be helpful here, you can definitely attack this one systematically by focusing on common decision points, too - the pronoun and the parallel structure!

At first attempt, I was able to get the answer but with a NOT so systematic approach. I took choices out because of the Idiomatic Expression. But with reading several techniques, the order to attack SC is grammar first, meaning then concision.

So, just focusing on Parallel Errors.

George Sand (Aurore Lucile Dupin) was one of the first European writers to consider the rural poor to be legitimate subjects for literature AND TO portray these with sympathy and respect in her novels.

When we see "AND" or "OR", we try to look for elements in parallel. Focusing on this, we can readily eliminate A,B,C and D.

Then we are left with E...

First Glance

Notice that the first word of the underline changes significantly in the answer choice; there maybe Structure, Meaning, or Idiom issues.

Issues

(A) Idiom: consider XY

The answer choices present you with a wide range of choices for words that follow consider. Which ones are idiomatically legal?

If you want to say that someone believes a certain thing to be true, the proper structure is consider X Y, as in: She considers Anya funny.

The Y portion of this structure should not be introduced with to be or as or any other expression. Answers (A), (B), (C), and (D) all insert unnecessary words between the X (the rural poor) and Y (legitimate subjects). Eliminate all four.

(2) Pronoun: these

The pronoun these is a demonstrative pronoun. A simple example of usage might be: She like these apples. In that example, the pronoun refers to the noun apple. What does these refer to in this sentence?

In the original sentence, these refers to legitimate subjects, a noun within the same clause. When these is used as a subject, though, it is not allowed to refer to another noun within the same clause. Answer (B) repeats the error; answers (C), (D), and (E) all replace these with the object them, an acceptable usage. Eliminate answers (A) and (B).

(3) Parallelism: X and Y

The word and indicates parallelism: to consider and portray. Consider is not underlined, so portray must match that form. Either portray or to portray would be acceptable.

Answer (C) changes portray to portraying. This isn't parallel to the non-underlined construction to consider; eliminate answer (C).

Note: It is actually acceptable not to repeat the word to before portray, but when the two parts of the parallel structure are far apart, it's preferable to repeat the full infinitive structure for both.

The Correct Answer

Correct answer (E) fixes the initial idiom error by removing the extraneous words included in the other choices; it also corrects the initial pronoun error by replacing these with them.

(A) to be legitimate subjects for literature and portray these

(B) should be legitimate subjects for literature and portray these

(C) as being legitimate subjects for literature and portraying them

(D) as if they were legitimate subjects for literature and portray them

(E) legitimate subjects for literature and to portray them

Main Issues:

1) Correct Idiom is "Consider X Y". All other forms such as "Consider as/to be/should" are incorrect.
2) Them vs these: "these" should always be followed by a noun. Them is the right pronoun to use for objects.
3) "to consider" should be parallel to "portray".

Dear readers, please do not fall into the idiom trap. Certainly, "consider X Y" is a common idiom. However, there are several OG questions that have "consider A to be B" in the correct answer choice. So... As suggested by renown SC experts such as GMATNinja and generis always look for apparent issues such as parallelism, comparison, SV agreement, or modifiers before narrowing your choices by solely looking at idioms.

In this particular question, there is a clear parallelism issue which is heeded by dabaobao:
Only option (E) corrects the issue.

This question primarily tests the use of ‘consider’ in the sentence.

We have seen several questions were the idiomatic structure for ‘consider’ is consider X Y.

Knowing this about ‘consider’ can take us to the right answer in a matter of seconds.

Let’s scan the options:

(A) to be legitimate subjects for literature and portray these

(B) should be legitimate subjects for literature and portray these

(C) as being legitimate subjects for literature and portraying them

(D) as if they were legitimate subjects for literature and portray them

(E) legitimate subjects for literature and to portray them

Options A, B, C and D do not observe the idiomatic structure.

However, we have seen other OG questions where the structure ‘consider XY’ is not strictly followed.

To be safe, let’s see what other errors are in the options.

Options A and B use ‘these’ in place of ‘them’. Eliminate.

Options C and D flout parallelism rules. Eliminate.

Option E is the best option.

Hope this helps!

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here: Idioms + Verb Forms + Pronouns

• The word "considered" does not require a conjunction or a helping word/phrase; “consider/considered” is always followed directly by the noun, and the similar word "regarded" must be followed by the conjunction "as"; correct usages: Jack is “considered a math genius” or Jack is “regarded as a math genius”.
• "to + base form of verb" is the correct infinitive verb form construction.

A:
1/ This answer choice incorrectly uses the demonstrative pronoun "these" to refer to the object of the sentence - "the rural poor".
2/ Option A incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction "consider...to be"; remember, the word "considered" does not require a conjunction or a helping word/phrase; “consider/considered” is always followed directly by the noun.

B:
1/ This answer choice incorrectly uses the demonstrative pronoun "these" to refer to the object of the sentence - "the rural poor".
2/ Option B incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction "consider...should be"; remember, the word "considered" does not require a conjunction or a helping word/phrase; “consider/considered” is always followed directly by the noun.

C:
1/ This answer fails to maintain the correct infinitive verb form construction "to + base form of verb", as it uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "portraying" in this sentence) in place of the base form; remember, "to + base form of verb" is the correct infinitive verb form construction.
2/ Option C incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction "consider...as"; remember, the word "considered" does not require a conjunction or a helping word/phrase; “consider/considered” is always followed directly by the noun.

D:
1/ This answer choice incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction "consider...as"; remember, the word "considered" does not require a conjunction or a helping word/phrase; “consider/considered” is always followed directly by the noun.

E: Correct.
1/ This answer choice correctly uses the object pronoun "them" to refer to the object of the sentence - "the rural poor".
2/ Option E maintains the correct infinitive verb form construction - "to + base form of verb" - "to + portray" in this sentence.
3/ Option E correctly and idiomatically uses "consider" without a conjunction or helping words.

Hence, E is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

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