The plot of The Bostonians centers on the rivalry between Olive Chance

In option can some one please explain me her is referring to whom.. isn't it leading to pronoun ambiguity.?

Regards,
Veenu

Concept Tested: Idioms -> Between X and Y

A: rivalry between Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, with her charming and cynical cousin, Basil Ransom
B: distorts meaning
C: rivalry that develops between Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, and Basil Ransom, her charming and cynical cousin
Just remove the additional info and focus on the main X (Olive Chancellor) and Y (Basil Ransom). her is followed by a comma and is correctly referring to the closest noun Basil Ransom.
D: developing rivalry between Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, with Basil Ransom,her charming and cynical cousin
E: active feminist Olive Chancellor, and the rivalry with her charming and cynical cousin Basil Ransom => distorts meaning

Hope it helps.

Hi,

In option C the usage of "her" made me to opt A. Can anyone explain the use of pronoun her in option C?

the correct idiom is "between x and y" where x and y have to be parallel ... this is the reason why A is incorrect --- "between x with y"

kudos pls thanks!

I didn't know this idiom... used other ways to determine a right anwer: ....When they find etc. is a subordinate clause
(A) rivalry between Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, with her charming and cynical cousin, Basil Ransom --> is a SENTENCE FRAGMENT as it lacks a main verb
(B) rivals Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, against her charming and cynical cousin, Basil Ransom --> is a SENTENCE FRAGMENT as it lacks a main verb
(C) rivalry that develops between Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, and Basil Ransom, her charming and cynical cousin --> has a main verb
(D) developing rivalry between Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, with Basil Ransom, her charming and cynical cousin--> is a SENTENCE FRAGMENT as it lacks a main verb
(E) active feminist. Olive Chancellor, and the rivalry with her charming and cynical cousin Basil Ranso--> is a SENTENCE FRAGMENT as it lacks a main verbm

Bostonian means people from Boston; Olive Chancellor is a woman and Basil Ransom is a man. So 'her' can't refer to Basil Ransom

A "Rivalry... with" is not idiomatic.
B "Rivals... against" is not idiomatic.
C Correct
D "Rivals... between...with" is not idiomatic.
E "Rivalry... with" is not idiomatic.

The usage should be: rivalry between x and y or rivals x and y

A - "with" incorrect - Correct Idiom - "between x and y"

B - "Against" is incorrect - Correct Idiom - "rivals x and y"

C - Correct - Using Idiom - "between x and y"

D - "with" incorrect - Correct Idiom - "between x and y"

E - Changes the meaning

Can someone explain the use of "when" in this sentence.

Sidjain

'When' here refers to that particular moment when a deep rivalry starts to build up between the female Olive and her male cousin, probably a kind of triangular knot that develops out of jealousy when they both discover that both of them are attracted to one and the same woman. It is also probable that the relation between Olive and the radiant woman was a woman-to-woman relationship

When correctly brings the timeline of the emergence of the rivalry.

Let me also point it out (and if my thought process is incorrect, would be happy to be acknowledged)
that one more reason to PoE incorrect choices here is that proper noun (Olive Chancellor and Basil Ransom) cannot be used as clarifications, set up by two commas. So A and B are incorrect for this reason as well:
(A) rivalry between Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, with her charming and cynical cousin, Basil Ransom

(B) rivals Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, against her charming and cynical cousin, Basil Ransom

Basil is always a male's name, meaning King and has its root from The Greek. Do we ever doubt Mahadev as a girl's name? Famous names with Basil are Bail Rajapaksa, the Ceylonese politician, and Basil D'Olivera a former South African Cricketer.
But what is the point in seeing a ghost when none exists?

ankaua
I am afraid that the entire structure has been reversed in your reasoning. Please note that Basil and Olivia remain proper nouns and are not clarifications. It is the 'active feminist' phrase and 'her charming cousin', which are the clarifications or the descriptive modifiers (called the Appositive modifiers).

daagh , thanks for your reply. I've re-checked my error log to find out the sources, from which I got at some point this idea.
Found this question: https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-author-h ... 64731.html

After studying this question, I made a note that proper names are essential modifiers, so cannot be set off by commas.
This concepts rules out the choice D (The author, Herman Melville, and the poet, Walt Whitman, are icons) in the referenced question. Won't same rule work for the subjected question as well?

No, at least not in this case.

The plot of The Bostonians centers on the rivalry that develops between Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, and Basil Ransom, her charming and cynical cousin...

The her charming and cynical cousin just describes Basil Ransom, and the her does not refer to Basil Ransom. For example:

Irene Joliot-Curie was as famous as Marie Curie, her mother.

Irene Joliot-Curie was as famous as Marie Curie, Irene Joliot-Curie's mother.
Irene Joliot-Curie was as famous as Marie Curie, Marie Curie's mother.

The idiom that we need to know here is simply ‘between X and Y'.

This question complicates it by inserting appositives in between to confuse the reader.
For an appositive to work, it has to be placed right next to the word it is modifying.

‘an active feminist’ describes Olive Chancellor and ‘her charming and cynical cousin’ describes/modifies Basil Ransom.

Now, let’s scan the options:

(A) rivalry between Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, with her charming and cynical cousin, Basil Ransom

(B) rivals Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, against her charming and cynical cousin, Basil Ransom

(C) rivalry that develops between Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, and Basil Ransom, her charming and cynical cousin

(D) developing rivalry between Olive Chancellor, an active feminist, with Basil Ransom, her charming and cynical cousin

(E) active feminist, Olive Chancellor, and the rivalry with her charming and cynical cousin Basil Ransom

Eliminate A, B, D and E.

Even if you don’t know the idiom, you can use the meaning approach to eliminate the other options.

Option C is the best choice.

Hope this helps!

Can anyone explain the reason why (E) is wrong?

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