GMATNinja wrote:
Interesting question, Cez005. Everything you said here is basically correct.
Quote:
- Madeline's books are very well reviewed, and many critics consider her works to be future classics. Antecedent is possessive and so is "her"
Yes -- both "her" and "Madeline's" are possessive, so you're all good here.
Quote:
- The writing style employed by Madeline is exemplary, and many critics consider her to be one of the greatest writers of our time. Antecedent is not possessive and neither is "her".
Also correct. In this case, "her" is an object pronoun, not a possessive, and it refers unambiguously to Madeline.
So how do they test this on the GMAT? The most common error on the GMAT is when a subject pronoun (he, she, it, they) tries to refer back to a possessive noun. Example: "Amber's husband eats so much that she calls him a pig." In this case, "she" is trying to refer back to "Amber's" -- but that's a no-no on the GMAT, since "Amber's" is possessive.
Another discussion on this topic can be found here:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/possessive-p ... 00496.html.
Could you please explain why is D(which has "she") the correct answer for this question in
GMAT official guide 2018:
805. 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.
(B) Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning was
considered among her contemporaries as a
better poet than her husband, she was later
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.
(D) Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s success
was later overshadowed by that of her husband,
among her contemporaries she was considered
the better poet.
(E) Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poetry was
considered among her contemporaries as better
than her husband, but her success was later
overshadowed by his.
Idiom; Verb form; Logical predication
Th e sentence misuses the locution the better poet .
It is acceptable to say a better poet than but not
the better poet than . If you have already mentioned
two poets X and Y , and you want to say that X is
better than Y , you can either say X is a better poet
than Y , or simply , X is the better poet.
A Th is version of the sentence misuses the
idiom the better poet , most likely confusing it
with the idiom a better poet than .
B [W] as considered among her contemporaries
as is awkward and unnecessarily creates a
potential misreading (she was considered to
be among her contemporaries).
C Th e subject here is Elizabeth Barrett
Browning’s poetry , not Elizabeth Barrett
Browning , so the antecedent of her in
her husband could comically be taken to
be Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poetry .
Furthermore, the tense of had been considered
pairs oddly with Later overshadowed . Each
seems to be in reaction to some particular time
T —later than T and earlier than T , but when
T was or its signifi cance is never indicated.
D Correct. Th is version avoids the problems
of the other versions.
E Th is sentence comically compares Elizabeth
Barrett Browning’s poetry to her husband.
Th e correct answer is D.
close
25 Mar 2017, 19:59
