In the thirties and forties, devotees of Willa Cather’s maintained tha

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION






• SPLIT #1: DOUBLE POSSESSIVES ARE FORBIDDEN

I think this writer's strange name made this error easier to catch.

A more subtle incorrect official example says something like this: The inflation rate in 1988 was twice that of 1989's.
In any event . . .

• on the GMAT, do not use possessive marker OF and ['s] in the same phrase

-- The word OF indicates possession: the friend of Artem (the X of Y)

-- The use of [apostrophe + S] ['s] also indicates possession: Artem's friend (Y's X)

-- On the GMAT, we can use one or the other,
but not both at the same time.
-- Wrong: the X of Y's: the friend of Artem's

• Use X's Y
or Y of X,
but not both

-- GMAC considers such use redundant. Many style guides do not. Ignore the style guides. GMAC wins.
I have never found an exception to this rule among thousands of official questions.

This sentence: The writer Willa Cather had devotees.
Correct, Xs of Y: devotees of Willa Cather
Correct, Y's Xs: Willa Cather's devotees
Wrong, Xs of Y's: devotees of Willa Cather's

Options A, B, and C erroneously use both OF and an apostrophe "s": . . . devotees of Willa Cather's . . .
ELIMINATE A, B, and C

• Split #2: Verb tense, HAS v. HAD

When do the devotees maintain (insist on) something about Cather's writing?
In the 1930s and 1940s.

The devotees maintained something about Cather's writing in the past.
Past tense of have (to possess) is had. Not has.

Option E uses present tense has.
Has = present = wrong time period for this sentence.
ELIMINATE E (and A, which also uses has)

By POE, the answer is D
• Option D correctly uses devotees of Cather
• Option D correctly uses the verb had rather than has

Notes

In option C, the use of had maintained is illogical.

Had maintained is called past perfect, "the past of the past," and is used to describe the earlier (older) of two past events.
Almost always, we need at least one event that occurred after the past perfect event and that is rendered in simple past or marked by a time stamp.

What is the second and later-in-time event?
What comes after "had maintained"?
Nothing.
Cather's writing existed.
After having read Cather’s work, her devotees maintained (declared) that Cather's writing possessed XYZ.

At the very least, what the devotees said and when they said it were simultaneous "events."
Past perfect is not quite appropriate; simple past maintained is correct.

I would not use this issue as a basis for elimination on the first pass. The issue is a close call in a strict grammar sense, but not a close call in the diction sense.

The verb tense in (C) should sound odd to native speakers.

COMMENTS

aviddd , ketanbhardwaj131 , and sahilaro23 , welcome to SC Butler.

Earlier tonight, a 13-year-old boy summoned his courage and riveted millions—in less than two minutes.
A little bit of generosity goes a long way.

Kudos to those who explained with correct reasoning.

In the thirties and forties, devotees of Willa Cather’s
maintained that her writing has all the qualities found in the highest order of American writers of the nineteenth and
twentieth century.

The most striking error is 'Willa Cather’s'. If the statement mentioned Willa Cather's writing, then the apostrophe would be correct. In this case it's incorrect, so we can strive off all the options that have this error.

A. Cather’s maintained that her writing has (out)
B. Cather’s maintained that her writing had (out)
C. Cather’s had maintained that her writing had (out)
D. Cather maintained that her writing had ( since the event occured in the past, the use of past perfect 'had' is correct)
E. Cather maintained that her writing has ( the even occured in the past, 'has' is present perfect, in this case incorrect )

OA: D

Posted from my mobile device

In the thirties and forties, devotees of Willa Cather’s maintained that her writing has all the qualities found in the highest order of American writers of the nineteenth and twentieth century.

A. Cather’s maintained that her writing has // simple perfect tense is wrong.
B. Cather’s maintained that her writing had // fine in British English
C. Cather’s had maintained that her writing had // past perfect tense is not ideal.
D. Cather maintained that her writing had // fine in American English
E. Cather maintained that her writing has // present perfect tense is wrong.

Posted from my mobile device
_________________

In the thirties and forties, devotees of Willa Cather’s maintained that her writing has all the qualities found in the highest order of American writers of the nineteenth and
twentieth century.
A. Cather’s maintained that her writing has - Present perfect for the past is incorrect
B. Cather’s maintained that her writing had - Cather's what? devotees of Cather not Cather's "unknown" thing
C. Cather’s had maintained that her writing had - Same as B
D. Cather maintained that her writing had - "had" is used a simple past. Cather's possessive has been replaced by Cather which makes perfect sense
E. Cather maintained that her writing has - Present perfect for the past is incorrect

Answer - D

In the thirties and forties, devotees of Willa Cather’s maintained that her writing has all the qualities found in the highest order of American writers of the nineteenth and twentieth century.


We're looking at the devotees of a particular place. So, Willa Cather's won't fit in here. Let look at the options now.

A. Cather’s maintained that her writing has
Out. for the reason stated above.

B. Cather’s maintained that her writing had
Same as A.

C. Cather’s had maintained that her writing had
Same as A

D. Cather maintained that her writing had
The usage of Cather is correct. What comes to the immediate notice is the use of past perfect had. As soon as I see this, I should look if there are more than 1 event in past and what is the sequencing for them. The two events discussed here are maintained (event 1) and had all the powers (event 2). Clearly event 2 happened before event 1, as far as the meaning goes. Therefore the use is correct.

E. Cather maintained that her writing has
The usage of Cather is correct. but D is better option than E because of the usage of verb in past tense.

Hence - D.

In the thirties and forties, devotees of Willa Cather’s maintained that her writing has all the qualities found in the highest order of American writers of the nineteenth and
twentieth century.

Rule: 1) A non-possessive pronoun can only refer to a non-possessive noun or pronoun.
Her is a non-possessive pronoun and 'Cather's' is showing the possessive aspect. It's an illogical reference, So we can easily eliminate A,B and C.

2) Verb Sequencing: Multiple Verbs must be Parallel.
In Option E, time frame is changed.
In the thirties and forties, devotees of Willa Cather maintained that her writing has all the qualities found in the highest order of American writers of the nineteenth and
twentieth century.

A. Cather’s maintained that her writing has (Wrong)
B. Cather’s maintained that her writing had (Wrong)
C. Cather’s had maintained that her writing had (Wrong)
D. Cather maintained that her writing had ( follows both the grammar rules)
E. Cather maintained that her writing has (wrong)

In the thirties and forties, devotees of Willa Cather’s maintained that her writing has all the qualities found in the highest order of American writers of the nineteenth and
twentieth century.

POE:
Stop sign - 'Cather's'; it is not clear what it is referring to. Cather's devotees or devotees of Cather is the right form. Eliminate (A), (B) & (C).
Eliminate (E) - tense error.

A. Cather’s maintained that her writing has
B. Cather’s maintained that her writing had
C. Cather’s had maintained that her writing had
D. Cather maintained that her writing had - CORRECT
E. Cather maintained that her writing has

In the thirties and forties, devotees of Willa Cather’s maintained that her writing has all the qualities found in the highest order of American writers of the nineteenth and
twentieth century.
A. Cather’s maintained that her writing has
we do not need possessive since we already have "of" - devotees of
B. Cather’s maintained that her writing had
we do not need possessive since we already have "of" - devotees of
C. Cather’s had maintained that her writing had
we do not need possessive since we already have "of" - devotees of
D. Cather maintained that her writing had
correct
E. Cather maintained that her writing has
Since we are talking about thirties and forties, "has" is the wrong tense. We need a past tense.

In the thirties and forties, devotees of Willa Cather’s maintained that her writing has all the qualities found in the highest order of American writers of the nineteenth and
twentieth century.
Meaning:
Devotees of a writer maintained that her writing had all the qualities that are found in the highest order of American writers of the nineteenth and twentieth century.

POE:
Use of possessive Willa Cather's with of is redundant and the use of present tense is incorrect as the sentence is describing the past events

A. Cather’s maintained that her writing has --->devotees of Willa Cather's is incorrect. it should be either "Willa Cather's devotees" or "devotees of Willa Cather.
B. Cather’s maintained that her writing had -----> Same as A
C. Cather’s had maintained that her writing had ---> Same as A
D. Cather maintained that her writing had ---->Correct
E. Cather maintained that her writing has -----> use of present tense is incorrect

"devotees of Willa Cather’s" ..Willa Cather’s what??? idea?lifestyle? what? makes no sense .so A,B,C are out
in E use of "has" is wrong as the event happened in past
D is the right answer

In the thirties and forties, devotees of Willa Cather’s maintained that her writing has all the qualities found in the highest order of American writers of the nineteenth and
twentieth century.

Eliminate A, B,C directly for apostrophe


A. Cather’s maintained that her writing has
B. Cather’s maintained that her writing had
C. Cather’s had maintained that her writing had
D. Cather maintained that her writing had
Correct choice
E. Cather maintained that her writing has
Tense Error
Eliminate

In the thirties and forties, devotees of Willa Cather’s maintained that her writing has all the qualities found in the highest order of American writers of the nineteenth and
twentieth century.
A. Cather’s maintained that her writing has - 'has' is the wrong tense. Incorrect.
B. Cather’s maintained that her writing had - ' Cather's ' should be just Cather. Incorrect.
C. Cather’s had maintained that her writing had - ' Cather's ' should be just Cather. Both verbs can't be 'had'. Incorrect.
D. Cather maintained that her writing had - 'had'. Cather. Correct.
E. Cather maintained that her writing has - 'has' is the wrong tense. Incorrect.

Hence, the answer is Option (D).

The official explanation is here.

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