V04-03

Question

Noted for his consummate use of tragedy, many of Shakespeare’s plays have become classics due to the author slowly revealing at the end of each play a dramatic twist of fate.

A. Noted for his consummate use of tragedy, many of Shakespeare’s plays have become classics due to the author slowly revealing at the end of each piece a tragic twist of fate.
B. Noted for using tragedy in a consummate way, many of Shakespeare’s plays have become classics because of the author slowly revealing a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece.
C. Many of Shakespeare’s plays have become classics because of how he notably and consummately uses tragedy, evident in the slow revelation of a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece.
D. Many of Shakespeare’s plays, noted for his consummate use of tragedy, have become classics because of the way the author slowly reveals at the end of each piece a tragic twist of fate.
E. Many of Shakespeare’s plays have become classics because he slowly revealed a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece, demonstrating his noted and consummate use of tragedy.

Bunuel · Answer

Official Solution:

Noted for his consummate use of tragedy, many of Shakespeare’s plays have become classics due to the author slowly revealing at the end of each play a dramatic twist of fate.

A. Noted for his consummate use of tragedy, many of Shakespeare’s plays have become classics due to the author slowly revealing at the end of each piece a tragic twist of fate.
B. Noted for using tragedy in a consummate way, many of Shakespeare’s plays have become classics because of the author slowly revealing a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece.
C. Many of Shakespeare’s plays have become classics because of how he notably and consummately uses tragedy, evident in the slow revelation of a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece.
D. Many of Shakespeare’s plays, noted for his consummate use of tragedy, have become classics because of the way the author slowly reveals at the end of each piece a tragic twist of fate.
E. Many of Shakespeare’s plays have become classics because he slowly revealed a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece, demonstrating his noted and consummate use of tragedy.

A. “Due to” should be used as an adjective and hence must modify a noun. However here “due to” wrongly modifies the verb “have become” - instead of “due to”, “because of” must be used. Examples: 
 
 Wrong:  People gathered due to the accident. “Gathered” is a verb and hence “due to” is wrong.
 
 Correct:  People gathered because of the accident. “Gathered” is a verb and hence “because of” is correct.
 
 Correct:  The gathering was due to the accident. “Gathering” is a noun and hence “due to” is correct.)
 
The usage “due to the author revealing” is wrong. The reason is the “revelation” and not the “author”. Correct way of expressing would be “because the author revealed…” or “because of the way the author revealed…”
 
B. The usage “because of the author revealing” is wrong. The reason is the “revelation” and not the “author”. Correct way of expressing would be “because the author revealed…” or “because of the way the author revealed…”
 
C. The pronoun “he” does not have a proper antecedent. Although a genitive pronoun may have a nominative noun as antecedent, it is not recommended to use a nominative pronoun (here “he”) for a genitive antecedent (here “Shakespeare’s).
 
 D. CORRECT.  “Because of” is correctly used with the verb “have become”. “Because of the way…” is correct - the reason (that the plays have become classics) is “the way the author slowly reveals”.
 
E. The pronoun “he” does not have a proper antecedent. Although a genitive pronoun may have a nominative noun as antecedent, it is not recommended to use a nominative pronoun (here “he”) for a genitive antecedent (here “Shakespeare’s).

Answer: D

Bunuel · Answer

The question or/and solution has been revised and edited. Thank you  sayantanc2k  !!!

tenben · Answer

Bunuel  In option D Can "  his  " refer back to   Shakespeare's  .

sayantanc2k · Answer

Yes, a possessive pronoun (his) can have a possessive noun (Shakespeare's) as its antecedent.

It is also alright that a possessive pronoun (his) has a subjective noun (Shakespeare) as its antecedent. What is questionable is that a subjective pronoun (he) has a possessive noun (Shakespeare's) as its antecedent.

Anshul1223333 · Answer

Hi  Bunuel

Do we have an offcial qsn on similar lines. Generally, I have seen that the sentence formation for e.g ''......author revealed twist at the end'' and ''.....author revealing the twist'' Both are understood same way, meaning wise. I mean there is no ambiguity in the meaning so to say.

Any more examples on such lines will help me clear the confusion

RonTargetTestPrep · Answer

This isn't a valid rule. For some reason it just refuses to die; too bad, because using it could get you into a whole world of trouble.

e.g., consider this correct sentence from a problem that appears in several editions of OG:

Although  Elizabeth Barrett Browning's  success was later overshadowed by that of her husband, among her contemporaries  she  was considered the better poet.

sayantanc2k · Answer

RonTargetTestPrep

Thank you for your observation. Before we modify the question, I would request for your insight on another OG question that I came across many years ago. Here it is:

"Since 1986, when the Department of Labor began to allow  investment officers’ fees to be based on how the funds they manage perform, several corporations began  paying their investment advisers a small basic fee, with a contract promising higher fees if the managers perform well."

The above sentence is considered wrong in OG - the official explanation states, " they  has no clear referent."

The correct option for the above question is as follows: 
"fees of investment officers to be based on the performance of the funds they manage, several corporations have begun".

The corresponding explanation for the correct option states, "Substituting  fees of investment officers  in this sentence allows the pronoun  they  to refer to the  officers ."

You inputs on this point will be highly valued and appreciated.

perseverance2021 · Answer

sayantanc2k   RonTargetTestPrep   ChiranjeevSingh

If I abide by what  RonTargetTestPrep  mentioned, I believe the options C and E are not incorrect because of any antecedent or possessive noun errors rather these are incorrect for some other reasons
I have mentioned reason for option C below according to my understanding, but I am unable to figure out the apposite reasons for ruling out Options C and E.

Option C:
", evident in the slow revelation of a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece."
it should have been " that is evident in the slow revelation of a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece."
I also think that revelation is not correct here , but I am not firm on that.

Need guidance for rejecting options C and E for correct reasons.

sayantanc2k · Answer

It seems that you have missed my post just above yours. Please take a look at the OG question mentioned therein: https://gmatclub.com/forum/v04-184846.html#p3058706 Thus the explanations for eliminating options 3 and 5 as mentioned in the official GMATclub solution is alright - the rule (i.e., not to use nominative pronoun with genitive antecedent) has indeed been used in actual GMAT.

perseverance2021 · Answer

sayantanc2k  , I think you asked Ron to provide more insights on the GMAT OG question you asked, but I believe he is yet to respond.
I am sorry but I am not fond of remembering the technical terminologies such as genitive or nominative.

My question was inline with Ron's example:

Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning's success was later overshadowed by that of her husband, among her contemporaries she was considered the better poet.

In his example above he mentioned that the usage of 'she' is acceptable.

Applying the same rule/logic , I was thinking that the option C and E are not incorrect.

C. Many of Shakespeare’s plays have become classics because of how he notably and consummately uses tragedy, evident in the slow revelation of a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece.

Going by Ron's example , I thought 'he' in option C refers to Shakespeare and is okay.

Same with option E.

Please correct me if there is any aberration in my inference.

RonTargetTestPrep   ChiranjeevSingh

sayantanc2k · Answer

OK, genitive = possessive.

In the OG example and the explanation mentioned in my post, you may notice that the pronoun  they  is considered wrong when used to refer to the possesive noun  investment officers’  (possesive). The corresponding explanation in OG states, " they  has no clear referent." In the correct answer of this OG question, however, the same pronoun  they  refers to the noun  officers  (not possessive). The corresponding explanation states that "Substituting  fees of investment officers  in this sentence allows the pronoun they to refer to the  officers ."

I understand that it might be confusing when other examples from OG are cited in which pronouns have been used to refer to posessive nouns, contradicting OG's own explanation. Nonetheless, it is not advisable to approach the GMAT by memorising certain rules and taking them as absolute truth - GMAT is a test of logic and intelligence. If you have a question in which you have two options that are identical in all respects expect for that a pronoun is used instead of a possessive noun in one case and instead of a non-possive noun in the other, you can safely eliminate the one in which the pronoun is used instead of a possessive. The logical explanation (without going into any standard rule / even past OG examples) is as follows:

A pronoun is used as a replacement for a noun, not for an adjective. A possessive noun in principle acts as an adjective (i.e. modifies another noun). Therfore it is more logical to use a pronoun to refer to a non-possessive noun than to a possesssive noun.

RonTargetTestPrep · Answer

" Since 1986 , when the Department of Labor began to allow  investment officers’ fees to be based on how the funds they manage perform, several corporations  began   paying their investment advisers a small basic fee, with a contract promising higher fees if the managers perform well."

The two parts in pink here are incompatible. The simple past tense ("began") is for past/historical events that happened at a  past time point , or over a  time interval that started  AND ENDED  in the past . 
In other words, the simple past is for stuff that's definitely NOT happening / true anymore.

For  intervals that continue up to the present —including intervals of the from "Since ______"—you need to use  "has/have VERBed"  (i think this is called the "present perfect" tense).

sayantanc2k · Answer

RonTargetTestPrep

Thank you very much for the response. Indeed the given sentence is wrong because of two reasons:

1.  Wrong usage of the pronoun "they".  
2.  Wrong usage of verb "began".

An excerpt of the question from OG is as follows:
Since 1986, when the Department of Labor began to allow  investment officers’ fees to be based on how the funds they manage perform, several corporations began  paying their investment advisers a small basic fee, with a contract promising higher fees if the managers perform well.

(A) investment  officers’  fees to be based on how the funds  they  manage perform, several corporations  began 
(B) ....
(C) ....
(D) fees of investment  officers  to be based on the performance of the funds  they  manage, several corporations  have begun 
(E) ....

Official answer: D

Official explanation:

(A)   Have begun  should replace  began  ;   they  has no clear referent .
(B) ....
(C) ....
(D) Correct.  Substituting  fees of investment officers  in this sentence allows the pronoun  they  to refer to the officers ;   have begun  properly indicates a continuing situation .
(E) ....

Nonethelss, the discussion in this thread is about the blue highlgihted point (reason 1). Although in this example, the rule that  a non-possessive pronoun cannot have a possessive noun  as its antedcedent is used to designate the option A wrong, the same rule has been ignored in other examples seen on GMAT (e.g.,  Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning's success was later overshadowed by that of her husband, among her contemporaries she was considered the better poet. , as you mentioned).

My point here is that not everything in GMAT is black or white. There are indeed some gray areas (as this one), and during the test, if a candidate faces a question that falls in such a gray area, he / she must judicioulsly decide whether he / she has to apply the rule or ignore it. A candidate who is aware of the gray areas is more likely to answer such questions correctly than the ones who are rigid about such a rule being absolute.

RonTargetTestPrep · Answer

...which means it's not a rule.

A "rule", by definition, is followed consistently. If there are exceptions, those exceptions can be concretely enumerated and are also consistent.

An idea that works  most  of the time, but that sometimes randomly fails under the same circumstances, is not a rule—it's a guessing method.

The real crux of the issue here is that the OG answer explanations for SC problems just aren't very good. Those explanations—which were very obviously not written by the authors of the problems—often miss major issues entirely, and occasionally they say things that are not true at all.

The key to the answer choice currently under discussion is a perfect example of the poor quality of the explanations. It contains a fake "rule" that is not actually a valid rule, while entirely failing to mention the fact that the simple past can NEVER work with  Since xxxxx  (which not only  IS  a valid rule, but in fact is tested regularly).

This realization is VERY important.   The  problems  are NOT 'inconsistent' and DO NOT have 'gray areas'. It's the EXPLANATIONS / KEYS that are inconsistent and of dodgy quality.   Anyone who doesn't make this pair of realizations is at risk of fundamentally misunderstanding what this exam is all about.

If this statement were true, the GMAT would be unfit for purpose and pretty much worthless in general, and no serious graduate program would use it in admissions. 
Literally the  entire point of standardized tests  is that they DO NOT have 'gray areas' of this sort.

Moreover, if you're making this statement, that means you're actually placing more trust in the answer keys than in the problems themselves. (Think about it for a sec. The issue here is a conflict between the problems and the keys—so, either the problems are bad or the keys are bad.)

The statements you wrote here assume that the problems are bad, whereas the keys are just fine. That's the worst inversion of priorities imaginable here. 
The PROBLEMS on this test are THE top priority. Nothing else about this test is anywhere near as important as the integrity of the problems—which are meticulously crafted, are put through many rounds of editing, feature honestly astounding levels of consistency and due diligence, and are NEVER misleading/disingenuous 'trick questions'. 
The OG answer explanations, by contrast, are slapdash, incomplete, and clearly the work product of authors who are  much  less capable, knowledgeable, and punctilious than the problem writers. 
The answer keys are so unimportant that they legitimately might be the absolute  LAST -place priority out of everything GMAC does or produces.

bb · Answer

Thank you Ron

... trying to unwind this and figure out what actions can be taken based on this post: 1. My understanding historically has been that the VPR (Vague Pronoun Reference) only kicked in if the pronoun is confusing and can be referenced to multiple items. Let me know if that's not the case 2. It seems it is appropriate/possible to use he/she/they in reference to a possessive. Shakespear's works, and then "he" 3. I have no clear path what to do with the statement that "GMAT questions are clear" and "GMAT explanations are vague". Is the takeaway not to read the explanations from the OG in general or for harder questions? or read with a big scoop of salt? What is a good takeaway for a regular test-taker? I think anyone who opened an OG has a pretty clear idea that the verbal explanations are not helpful at times or confusing. However, it is only at times. On the other hand, I never thought that they would be wrong or shoddy though I am the one who prepared without using an OG in general... perhaps that was my secret to success 🤦‍♂️ Trying to action this, is the position that the Official Questions are correct and tested on the exam via the experimental question process; while, my guess the explanations are written much much later and by a different person and can't be trusted beyond the correct answer? Personally, perhaps I am one of those people who is fundamentally at risk of misunderstanding what the GMAT is all about

but I am not sure I have decoupled explanations from the question and I think many test-takers don't realize the fact that the questions and explanations are written at different points in time by different people so I think pretty much a vast majority of us are not in the same boat with you and I think you have to realize that most people who are studying for the GMAT won't be in the same boat with you or am I fundamentally misunderstanding here something too? Which if true, means most people are misunderstanding what the GMAT is about and what do we do about it?

Arunabho · Answer

I think this is a  high-quality  question and I don't agree with the explanation. "Because of" ” is a preposition. Prepositions are designed to be followed by only a noun. Though "the way" acts as a noun in here, the following sentence structure carries too much action, too much story for a preposition to handle. Though I agree this option is better than the rest, the mere explanation doesn't seem right in GMAT context.

edouardp · Answer

Doesn't "noted for his" refer to the plays and not Shakespeare? This makes D wrong...

"D. Many of Shakespeare’s plays, noted for his consummate use of tragedy, have become classics because of the way the author slowly reveals at the end of each piece a tragic twist of fate."

bumpbot · Answer

Hello from the GMAT Club BumpBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.

V04-03

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards