In the English-Speaking world Anton Chekhov is by far better

I go with E.

far better known for his plays than for his short stories

Better known for X than for Y - correct and parallel comaprison

In the English-Speaking world Anton Chekhov is by far better known for his plays than for his short stories, but it was during his lifetime that Chekhov's stories made him popular while his plays were given a more ambivalent reception, even by his fellow writers.

A)by far better known for his plays than for his short stories, but it was during his lifetime that
B)by far better known for his plays than he was for his short stories, but during his lifetime
C)Known far better for his plays than he was for his short stories, but during his lifetime
D)far better known for his plays than were his short stories, but it was during his lifetime that
E)far better known for his plays than for his short stories, but during his lifetime

IMO E

Why is A wrong? 'By far' is wordy but is it grammatically incorrect?

I like E too except for the end "but during his lifetime", I like "But it was during his lifetime" to complete the second half of the sentence better.

In B,
shouldn't the construction "....than he was for his short stories,.." another issue? Since the intended meaning is that in present times Anton is better known for his plays than for short stories which had been vice versa during his life time.
In my strong opinion, another issue with B is the change of tense.
Anyways the answer has to be E.

I don't think the answer is E because that changes the meaning of the sentence. The sentence is about Anton's popularity that was amassed during his lifetime, the stems that don't have "but it was during..." lose the core concept/meaning of that.

No. E doesn't changes the meaning. In fact it conveys the same meaning with few words and without ambiguity.
"it was...." construction doesn't adds anything to the meaning. Also the highlighted portion is ambigous here.

Experts plz elaborate on this , why (A). is wrong !!!

Hi ,

Please let me know the right usage of 'by far'

What does do or what is this...

Is the usage of this correct in teh answer choices. .?

Regards,
Sachin

In my opinion ,


* the second half sentence has no working verb . "that" is used incorrectly
it would have made sense to say -
Blah Blah , but during his lifetime chekhov's stories made him popular <> ...
or
Blah Blah , but during his lifetime it was chekhov's stories that made him popular<> ...



the inclusion of "he was" renders the sentence with bad parallelism.
Should be - better known for his plays than his stories.
or better known for his plays than for his stories



Bad parallelism - "for his plays" is compared with "he was for his stories"
second half of the independent clause has two verbs - "Was" and "made". I dont know if there is term for these kind issues (quiet bad with remembering jargons) , but I know the sentence makes no sense .

Usage of "It" is incorrect
Had the sentence read - "blah blah , but during his lifetime it was C's stories THAT made him........", would have been correct.



meaning issue- says - AC's stories were known for plays . - i.e AC is far better known for his plays than were his short stories (known for his plays) - comparision between "AC known fir his plays" and "his stories known for his plays"
Also The second part of the sentence says something like this - it was during AC's lifetime , that the stories made him popular ( perhaps as opposed to any other time , may be after his death , or whatever). "IT" is referring to lifetime , instead of "stories" , (is pointing to some period rather than stories. This is not the intended meaning. The sentence intended to say "during his lifetime , IT was his stories and not plays that made him popular".




Correct

HTH
Jyothi

In the English-Speaking world Anton Chekhov is by far better known for his plays than for his short stories, but it was during his lifetime that Chekhov's stories made him popular while his plays were given a more ambivalent reception, even by his fellow writers.

A)by far better known for his plays than for his short stories, but it was during his lifetime that
B)by far better known for his plays than he was for his short stories, but during his lifetime
C)Known far better for his plays than he was for his short stories, but during his lifetime
D)far better known for his plays than were his short stories, but it was during his lifetime that
E)far better known for his plays than for his short stories, but during his lifetime

Bumping for review.

I understand that E is the correct answer since other options have flaws. What are the rules for using "far" and "by far".

I have not found a convincing explanation to option A. sayantanc2k can you please shed some light. Thanks.

sayantanc2k

What is the difference between by far and so far? I agree that superlative form is not needed here since the comparison is between his prominence for his plays vs that of his short stories and by far is superlative in nature.

Both the verbs are in present tense and was is incorrect in options B and C.
it was ...........that spoils the choices A and D.

Which of these two sentences are correct?

Anton Chekhov is far better known for his plays than for his short stories.
Anton Chekhov is far better known for his plays than he is for his short stories.

Responding to PM.

by far means way more. For example:

Peter is by far more hardworking than anyone else in the class.

so far means till now. For example:

Peter is so far the best athlete in his class.

Your first query is already answered by EducationAisle.

As for your second query, both are correct - it is alright to omit the repeated part from the second element in a comparison if the meaning is not blurred. The following is also correct:

Anton Chekhov is far better known for his plays than he is known for his short stories.

Hi sayantanc2k

I have issues in understanding ways to identify the two items compared in comparative sentences. Generally, I determine wrong comparable items. Pls could you point out the things compared in all the above options. Also could you provide solution for the same.
Thanks

Hi
I got it wrong .
Can someone elaborate why C is wrong?