With his last three plays Mr. Leonard has turned increasingly toward a

With his last three plays Mr. Leonard has turned increasingly toward autobiographical material and, like Eugene O'Neill's, have come to terms with a difficult personal history through their dramatizations.

(A) like Eugene O'Neill's have come to terms with a difficult personal history through their

(B) like Eugene O'Neill's, has come to terms with a difficult personal history through his

(C) as Eugene O'Neill's did, has come to terms with a difficult personal history through their

(D) as Eugene O'Neill has done, have come to terms with a difficult personal history through their

(E) as with Eugene O'Neill, has come to terms with a difficult personal history through his

their dramatizations or his dramatization ???

(E) as with Eugene O'Neill, has come to terms with a difficult personal history through his ==> as with is very awkward

Many people will raise questions about the pronoun "their". In my opinion, their refers to both Mr.Leonardo's and Eugene O'Neill's'. It's just my opinion. I still need an expert's confirmation for this thought.
I think this looks really good. "Like" doesn't make sense, since we're not directly comparing O'Neill's plays with Leonard's plays, so (A) and (B) are clearly out. (D) has a subject-verb error.

The problem with (E) isn't necessarily that "as with" is awkward. Since we have a comparison using "as", the two phrases being compared need to be structurally parallel -- and they really aren't here. Rearranging (E) a little bit, we get the following comparison: "As with Eugene O'Neill, with his (Leonard's) last three plays..." And that really doesn't make sense: we're comparing "with O'Neill" to "with Leonard's plays." So that takes care of (E).

So what about the pronoun in (C)? Whenever you see "their", you should always look for a plural noun earlier in the sentence, and we only have one option here: "plays." And that actually works! "...though the plays' dramatizations." So (C) is perfectly fine.

Hello GMATNinja,

Amazing explanation. I have a query regarding the usage of 'his'.

With all other errors corrected, can we say that 'his dramatizations' is considered correct? I feel that 'their' is more opt.

Leonard has come to terms with a difficult personal history. How did he achieve this? Through the play's dramatization.

We need something that can be dramatized. what does 'his dramatization' refer to? Leonard? The plays are a dramatization of Leonard. seems awkward.

Please correct me, if wrong.

Thank you for the kind words, warriorguy!

The distinction between "his" and "their" is a non-issue, since you really don't have to choose between the two of them. I actually think that either would be fine here. "The plays' dramatizations" is arguably a little bit better, but you could also argue that Leonard created the dramatizations in those plays, so it's not wrong to say that they're "Leonard's dramatizations."

But again: the question was (probably deliberately) written in a way that makes it a non-issue.

I have searched all GMAT paper tests and I did not find this question in any one. Have you seen this question in any official source?

Thanks

Another general observation is the presence of the comma after 'and'. We have seen sentences with a comma before 'and' or even without, but one after 'and' in all the choices is very suspect.

Thank you for the kind words, warriorguy!

The distinction between "his" and "their" is a non-issue, since you really don't have to choose between the two of them. I actually think that either would be fine here. "The plays' dramatizations" is arguably a little bit better, but you could also argue that Leonard created the dramatizations in those plays, so it's not wrong to say that they're "Leonard's dramatizations."

But again: the question was (probably deliberately) written in a way that makes it a non-issue.

Sir,with all due respect,how come his vs their is a non issue in that question.I found them very relevant.We are talking of dramatization of these three plays so we need to use their instead of "his".Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I think this looks really good. "Like" doesn't make sense, since we're not directly comparing O'Neill's plays with Leonard's plays, so (A) and (B) are clearly out. (D) has a subject-verb error.

The problem with (E) isn't necessarily that "as with" is awkward. Since we have a comparison using "as", the two phrases being compared need to be structurally parallel -- and they really aren't here. Rearranging (E) a little bit, we get the following comparison: "As with Eugene O'Neill, with his (Leonard's) last three plays..." And that really doesn't make sense: we're comparing "with O'Neill" to "with Leonard's plays." So that takes care of (E).

So what about the pronoun in (C)? Whenever you see "their", you should always look for a plural noun earlier in the sentence, and we only have one option here: "plays." And that actually works! "...though the plays' dramatizations." So (C) is perfectly fine.

Hi All

Could someone please explain the meaning of the correct sentence?
Before getting to the POE & Answer choice analysis, its imperative to understand what the sentence wants to convey and I didn't get that right...
Thanks!

How is the comparison in the 2nd part, between "E.O.'s plays" and " L. coming to terms with a difficult personal history through their(plays') dramatization" coming about

HI! why is as preferred over like?