While few truly great artists consider themselves visionary, many less

Question

While few truly great artists consider themselves visionary, many lesser talents boast about their own destiny to lead the way to higher artistic ground.

(A) While few truly great artists consider themselves visionary, many lesser talents boast about their own destiny to lead the way to higher artistic ground.

(B) While many lesser talents boast about their own destinies to lead the way to higher ground, few truly great artists consider themselves as visionary.

(C) Many lesser talents boast about their own destiny to lead the way to higher artistic ground while few truly great artists consider themselves as being visionary.

(D) Few truly great artists consider himself or herself a visionary while many lesser talents boast about their own destinies to lead the way to higher artistic ground.

(E) While many lesser talents boast about their own destiny, few truly great artists consider themselves visionary, to lead the way to higher artistic ground.

Source:  Master GMAT

thuyhuynhs · Answer

1. Eliminate A, C, E: "Their own  destiny ": wrong. Should be "destinies"
2. Eliminate D: " Few truly great artists consider  himself ": Wrong. Should be "themselves"

--> B. B is correct and makes sense in meaning as well with structure "While...., ....." describes the contraction between the 2 clauses.

yashikaaggarwal · Answer

I will go with A

Destiny is the correct form usage with the singular subject destinities is the plural form which can't be used with singular subject. (Singular plural disagreement)

Hence We can Eliminate B and D option.

Among A, C and E
C is depicting clause X and Y as Y as X, the comparison drawn between those who boasts to the kind of artists who are working for greater good. C is changing meaning by changing the place of clause. It should depict boasting artists while some are working for goodness. Not the other way round. Making the sentence ending on negative note. Same is with E.

Hence A is the best option among rest, with singular form used and is actually depicting the contrast in its original sence.

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CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

The question requires us to identify the most appropriate structure.

There is an error of idiomatic usage in Options B and C. The verb ‘consider’ should not be followed by either the conjunction ‘as’ or the infinitive ‘to be’. In Options B and C, the phrase “consider themselves as” has been used.  So, Options B and C can be eliminated.

Option D contains a pronoun reference error. The singular pronouns ‘himself’ and ‘herself’ have been used to refer to the plural antecedent ‘artists’.  So, Option D can also be eliminated.

The infinitive phrase ‘to lead the way to higher artistic ground’ has been separated from its subject ‘destiny’ and incorrectly placed after ‘visionary’ in Option E. There is also a redundant comma in the option.  So, Option E can also be eliminated.

Option A has the appropriate sentence structure and does not contain the error of idiomatic usage.  Therefore, Option A is the most appropriate option.

Jayanthi Kumar.

kamrulhasan26043 · Answer

I am an infant in grammar, so please take it lightly.

Could you please point out the singular subject here?

My thought:

Take an example of "Their achievement" vs "Their achievements".

Their achievement   means they all together have a single achievement.
For Example, Students' achievement is that they put their school in the top 5.

Their achievements   mean they all have single different achievements.
For Example, They have more achievements than ours'.

So we can surely say that destiny is not a combined thing. It is an individual thing.

From my point of view, I prefered to use their destinies rather than their destiny.

Please teach me up.

VerbalBot · Answer

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While few truly great artists consider themselves visionary, many less

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While few truly great artists consider themselves visionary, many less

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