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William Shakespeare, though long considered as being one of the finest 19 May 2019, 21:50
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William Shakespeare, though long considered as being one of the finest writers in English or any other language, was the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed by him.


A. William Shakespeare, though long considered as being one of the finest writers in English or any other language, was the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed by him.

B. William Shakespeare, though long considered as one of the finest writers in English or any other language, has been the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed to him.

C. William Shakespeare, though long considered to be one of the finest writers in English or any other language, was the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed to him.

D. William Shakespeare, though long considered one of the finest writers in English or any other language, has been the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed to him.

E. William Shakespeare, though long considered to be one of the finest writers in English, was over the years the subject of speculation that he had not been the real author of works attributed by him.
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D
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William Shakespeare, though long considered as being one of the finest 20 May 2019, 04:27
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Bunuel
William Shakespeare, though long considered as being one of the finest writers in English or any other language, was the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed by him.


A. William Shakespeare, though long considered as being one of the finest writers in English or any other language, was the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed by him.

B. William Shakespeare, though long considered as one of the finest writers in English or any other language, has been the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed to him.

C. William Shakespeare, though long considered to be one of the finest writers in English or any other language, was the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed to him.

D. William Shakespeare, though long considered one of the finest writers in English or any other language, has been the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed to him.

E. William Shakespeare, though long considered to be one of the finest writers in English, was over the years the subject of speculation that he had not been the real author of works attributed by him.
Show more

Few idioms first to eliminate options :

1. Considered is correct . All other forms considered to be , considered as are incorrect.
2. Attributed to someone/noun - I attribute my success to John.

From these 2 , only option D is left.
Present perfect “has been the subject” clearly brings the timeline. Speculation was talked about over the years ( for a long time ) .
Speculation being that Shakesphere isn’t the author of all the work attributed to him.

Please correct me ,if I’m wrong in understanding.

Thanks
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William Shakespeare, though long considered as being one of the finest 21 May 2019, 03:50
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Quote:
William Shakespeare, though long considered as being one of the finest writers in English or any other language, was the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed by him.


A. William Shakespeare, though long considered as being one of the finest writers in English or any other language, was the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed by him.

B. William Shakespeare, though long considered as one of the finest writers in English or any other language, has been the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed to him.

C. William Shakespeare, though long considered to be one of the finest writers in English or any other language, was the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed to him.

D. William Shakespeare, though long considered one of the finest writers in English or any other language, has been the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed to him.

E. William Shakespeare, though long considered to be one of the finest writers in English, was over the years the subject of speculation that he had not been the real author of works attributed by him.
Show more

The correct answer here is D. Long sentences in which the entire sentence is underlined can be a little daunting at first. However, you can use this to your advantage! There are more opportunities to eliminate options - A longer sentence means that more could go wrong. If you're looking to solve by elimination, this plays right into your hands.

Options A & B - "considered as" is incorrect. You can simply drop the 'as', or say "considered to be" (this is a bit more awkward but still technically correct). OUT

Options C & E - Both options say that Shakespeare was the subject of speculation. This suggests that being the subject of speculation is something that happened only in the past, and this is untrue. A better construction would be "has been the subject of speculation", since he currently still is. OUT

Option D - This is correct by elimination. It correctly says "considered one of the finest writers..." and correctly says that he "has been the subject...", making it the best answer. CORRECT

Remember that even for the hardest questions, there will always be multiple opportunities to eliminate options. MofeBhatia has pointed another idiomatic usage error, "attributed to", to eliminate E, and that works just fine as well. So long as you have enough information, you're doing it right.

- Matoo
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William Shakespeare, though long considered as being one of the finest 27 May 2019, 09:58
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Bunuel
William Shakespeare, though long considered as being one of the finest writers in English or any other language, was the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed by him.


A. William Shakespeare, though long considered as being one of the finest writers in English or any other language, was the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed by him.

B. William Shakespeare, though long considered as one of the finest writers in English or any other language, has been the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed to him.

C. William Shakespeare, though long considered to be one of the finest writers in English or any other language, was the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed to him.

D. William Shakespeare, though long considered one of the finest writers in English or any other language, has been the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed to him.

E. William Shakespeare, though long considered to be one of the finest writers in English, was over the years the subject of speculation that he had not been the real author of works attributed by him.
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I've underlined the 3 splits in the answer choices above.

Start with the final split: attributed by him / attributed to him

Meaning:The works are attributed to Shakespeare. Eliminate (A) and (E)

Look at the middle split: has been the subject / was the subject

Verb/Tense Form: We need Present Perfect "has been" because we are starting with a the speculation "though long considered a great writer..." and then continues into the present. Eliminate (C)

Look at the first split: considered / considered as

Idiom:"considered as" is an idiom error Eliminate (B).
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William Shakespeare, though long considered as being one of the finest 27 May 2019, 10:02
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Official MGMAT Explanation:


The original sentence contains the unidiomatic "considered as being". The correct idiom is simply "considered", as in "I considered you a friend." Also, "was the subject...over the years" is incorrect. The sentence should use the present perfect "has been the subject," since the speculation began in the past and continues to the present. Finally, "attributed by" is not the correct idiom for this sentence. It should be "attributed to."

(A) This choice is incorrect as it repeats the original sentence.

(B) This choice repeats the original idiom error "considered as," though it corrects the other two errors.

(C) This choice repeats the original idiom error "considered to be" (with a slight variation) as well as the verb tense error "was."

(D) CORRECT. This choice corrects all of the original errors: "considered" instead of "considered as"; "has been" instead of "was"; and "attributed to" instead of "attributed by."

(E) This choice repeats the original idiom error "considered to be" (with a slight variation) as well as the verb tense error "was." It also introduces new errors: "or any other language" was removed from the sentence entirely, which changes the meaning; "over the years" is placed awkwardly; and "he had not been" is in the past perfect tense, when the correct tense is simple past.
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William Shakespeare, though long considered as being one of the finest 21 Jan 2022, 11:41
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Quote:
William Shakespeare, though long considered as being one of the finest writers in English or any other language, was the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed by him.


A. William Shakespeare, though long considered as being one of the finest writers in English or any other language, was the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed by him.

B. William Shakespeare, though long considered as one of the finest writers in English or any other language, has been the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed to him.

C. William Shakespeare, though long considered to be one of the finest writers in English or any other language, was the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed to him.

D. William Shakespeare, though long considered one of the finest writers in English or any other language, has been the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed to him.

E. William Shakespeare, though long considered to be one of the finest writers in English, was over the years the subject of speculation that he had not been the real author of works attributed by him.

The correct answer here is D. Long sentences in which the entire sentence is underlined can be a little daunting at first. However, you can use this to your advantage! There are more opportunities to eliminate options - A longer sentence means that more could go wrong. If you're looking to solve by elimination, this plays right into your hands.

Options A & B - "considered as" is incorrect. You can simply drop the 'as', or say "considered to be" (this is a bit more awkward but still technically correct). OUT

Options C & E - Both options say that Shakespeare was the subject of speculation. This suggests that being the subject of speculation is something that happened only in the past, and this is untrue. A better construction would be "has been the subject of speculation", since he currently still is. OUT

Option D - This is correct by elimination. It correctly says "considered one of the finest writers..." and correctly says that he "has been the subject...", making it the best answer. CORRECT

Remember that even for the hardest questions, there will always be multiple opportunities to eliminate options. MofeBhatia has pointed another idiomatic usage error, "attributed to", to eliminate E, and that works just fine as well. So long as you have enough information, you're doing it right.

- Matoo
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Hello Expert CrackverbalGMAT

In option D - shouldn't 'he was not the real author' be 'he is not the real author'.
Since we used perfect tense, the speculation is still ongoing and although the book was written in the past, the author of the book will always be the same (a fact). Hence shouldn't we use present tense for this?

Please suggest.
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William Shakespeare, though long considered as being one of the finest 23 Jan 2022, 07:11
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Quote:
William Shakespeare, though long considered as being one of the finest writers in English or any other language, was the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed by him.


A. William Shakespeare, though long considered as being one of the finest writers in English or any other language, was the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed by him.

B. William Shakespeare, though long considered as one of the finest writers in English or any other language, has been the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed to him.

C. William Shakespeare, though long considered to be one of the finest writers in English or any other language, was the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed to him.

D. William Shakespeare, though long considered one of the finest writers in English or any other language, has been the subject of speculation over the years that he was not the real author of works attributed to him.

E. William Shakespeare, though long considered to be one of the finest writers in English, was over the years the subject of speculation that he had not been the real author of works attributed by him.

The correct answer here is D. Long sentences in which the entire sentence is underlined can be a little daunting at first. However, you can use this to your advantage! There are more opportunities to eliminate options - A longer sentence means that more could go wrong. If you're looking to solve by elimination, this plays right into your hands.

Options A & B - "considered as" is incorrect. You can simply drop the 'as', or say "considered to be" (this is a bit more awkward but still technically correct). OUT

Options C & E - Both options say that Shakespeare was the subject of speculation. This suggests that being the subject of speculation is something that happened only in the past, and this is untrue. A better construction would be "has been the subject of speculation", since he currently still is. OUT

Option D - This is correct by elimination. It correctly says "considered one of the finest writers..." and correctly says that he "has been the subject...", making it the best answer. CORRECT

Remember that even for the hardest questions, there will always be multiple opportunities to eliminate options. MofeBhatia has pointed another idiomatic usage error, "attributed to", to eliminate E, and that works just fine as well. So long as you have enough information, you're doing it right.

- Matoo


Hello Expert CrackverbalGMAT

In option D - shouldn't 'he was not the real author' be 'he is not the real author'.
Since we used perfect tense, the speculation is still ongoing and although the book was written in the past, the author of the book will always be the same (a fact). Hence shouldn't we use present tense for this?

Please suggest.
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Hello NischalSR,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, since Shakespeare is no longer alive, it makes more sense to say that he "took" action rather than to say that he "takes" the action. When referring to the actions of individuals who have passed, it is typical to use the past tense.

For example, "My father was a good parent."

We hope this helps.

All the best!
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William Shakespeare, though long considered as being one of the finest 28 Apr 2023, 14:15
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