Of the people who brought about the Reformation, the reli

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Source: Kaplan

Of the people who brought about the
Reformation, the religious revolution that grew
out of objections to the doctrines of the
medieval church, Martin Luther is the best
known of them.

(A) Martin Luther is the best known of them
(B) the best known is Martin Luther
(C) the better known of them was Martin Luther
(D) Martin Luther is better known
(E) the best known one was Martin Luther

OA is B. please explain

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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Fri Apr 17, 2015 10:25 am
Mechmeera wrote:Source: Kaplan

Of the people who brought about the Reformation, the religious revolution that grew out of objections to the doctrines of the medieval church, Martin Luther is the best known of them.

(A) Martin Luther is the best known of them
(B) the best known is Martin Luther
(C) the better known of them was Martin Luther
(D) Martin Luther is better known
(E) the best known one was Martin Luther

OA is B. please explain
We already start with Of the people who brought about the Reformation, so using "of" a second time is unnecessary.
(A) Martin Luther is the best known of them
(C) the better known of them was Martin Luther
ELIMINATE A and C

(D) Martin Luther is better known
We use "better" when comparing TWO things/people. Use "best" for more than two.
Since it's likely that more than two people brought about the Reformation, ELIMINATE D

(E) the best known one was Martin Luther
We don't need one here. It's redundant.
Stating that the best known person is Martin Luther implies one person. So, we need not state that Martin Luther is one person. ELIMINATE E

Answer: B

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by conquistador » Fri Apr 17, 2015 10:33 am
Brent@GMATPrepNow wrote:
Mechmeera wrote:Source: Kaplan

Of the people who brought about the Reformation, the religious revolution that grew out of objections to the doctrines of the medieval church, Martin Luther is the best known of them.

(A) Martin Luther is the best known of them
(B) the best known is Martin Luther
(C) the better known of them was Martin Luther
(D) Martin Luther is better known
(E) the best known one was Martin Luther

OA is B. please explain
We already start with Of the people who brought about the Reformation, so using "of" a second time is unnecessary.
(A) Martin Luther is the best known of them
(C) the better known of them was Martin Luther
ELIMINATE A and C

(D) Martin Luther is better known
We use "better" when comparing TWO things/people. Use "best" for more than two.
Since it's likely that more than two people brought about the Reformation, ELIMINATE D

(E) the best known one was Martin Luther
We don't need one here. It's redundant.
Stating that the best known person is Martin Luther implies one person. So, we need not state that Martin Luther is one person. ELIMINATE E

Answer: B

Cheers,
Brent
Thanks Brent,

But I have a doubt. Can we say that "the best known is martin" is parallel to "Of the people........" phrase if we look in from the point of view of modifier.

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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sat Apr 18, 2015 6:23 am
Mechmeera wrote:
Thanks Brent,

But I have a doubt. Can we say that "the best known is martin" is parallel to "Of the people........" phrase if we look in from the point of view of modifier.
In what sense would "of the people who brought about the Reformation" be parallel to "the best known is Martin Luther"?

"people who brought about the Reformation" is in the past tense, and the best known is Martin Luther is in the present tense, but that's okay, because "people who brought about the Reformation" is actually modifying people. What kind of people? Those who brought about...
The fact that those people did something in the past is fine because t's a modifier that just tells us more about some people.

Cheers,
Brent
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