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Agatha Christie

by logitech » Tue Nov 18, 2008 1:42 pm
Agatha Christie's travels with her archaeologist husband inspired her to write several mystery novels; travelers to Egypt can still stay at the Old Cataract Hotel, the model for the hotel in one of Christie's most famous books.

Agatha Christie's travels with her archaeologist husband inspired her to write several mystery novels

Agatha Christie used her travels with her archaeologist husband to inspire several mystery novels


Because her husband was an archaeologist, Agatha Christie was able to use their travels as inspiration for several of her mystery novels

Together with her archaeologist husband, Agatha Christie was inspired to incorporate their travel into several of her mystery novels

Agatha Christie's travels with her archaeologist husband served as inspiration for several of her mystery novels

OA E
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by schumi_gmat » Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:02 pm
IMO E

Subject - Agathe christie's travel
Here we have possessive pronoun her referring to possessive noun Agatha Christie's



Agatha Christie's travels with her archaeologist husband inspired her to write several mystery novels -- second her is not referring to possessive noun. Replace her with "Agatha christie's" and see if it is correct.

Agatha Christie used her travels with her archaeologist husband to inspire several mystery novels --- Here her is reffering to noun Agatha Christie

Because her husband was an archaeologist, Agatha Christie was able to use their travels as inspiration for several of her mystery novels - Awakward and same as B

Together with her archaeologist husband, Agatha Christie was inspired to incorporate their travel into several of her mystery novels - same as b

Agatha Christie's travels with her archaeologist husband served as inspiration for several of her mystery novels --correct
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by mals24 » Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:02 pm
J.R.R Tolkein's Lord of the Ring inspired Peter Jackson to make a movie

Subject: J.R.R Tolkein's LOTR
Verb: inspired
Object: Peter Jackson.

Our question

Agatha Christie's travels inspired her to write several mystery novels

Subject: AC's travels
verb: inspired
Object pronoun: her

Here 'her' is an object pronoun which incorrectly refers to AC's travels.
I wrote the sentence in this way to show you what each word functions as.

A: Agatha Christie's travels with her archaeologist husband inspired her to write several mystery novels

The first 'her' is correctly used as a possessive pronoun to refer to AC's travels. However the 2nd her is used incorrectly since an object pronoun can never refer to a possessive noun. Hence this option is INCORRECT.

B: Agatha Christie used her travels with her archaeologist husband to inspire several mystery novels

Changes the meaning. Sounds as if she used her travels and her husband as inspiration.

C & D 'Their' has no antecedent.

E: gets rid of the object pronoun 'her' and is hence CORRECT.

Hope this helps
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by logitech » Tue Nov 18, 2008 3:14 pm
mals24 wrote:
The first 'her' is correctly used as a possessive pronoun to refer to AC's travels. However the 2nd her is used incorrectly since an object pronoun can never refer to a possessive noun. Hence this option is INCORRECT.
Wonderful explanation. Thanks Mals!
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Re: Agatha Christie

by iamcste » Tue Nov 18, 2008 3:24 pm
logitech wrote:Agatha Christie's travels with her archaeologist husband inspired her to write several mystery novels; travelers to Egypt can still stay at the Old Cataract Hotel, the model for the hotel in one of Christie's most famous books.

Agatha Christie's travels with her archaeologist husband inspired her to write several mystery novels

"Her" is an object pronoun as well as possessive pronoun..This creates a problem...

Lets see first Her--maps possessive antecedent correctly

second Her---receipient of insipiration is "Agatha" herself hence usage of "Her" is done as an object pronoun and one object pronoun cannot refer to possessive antecedent..so here in short phsyically knowing the pronouns didnt help..usage of "Her" as an object and possessive pronoun had to be identified-

so, best sentence would remove a pronoun associated with receipient of inspiration..this is what E exactly does..

Actually, other 3 got eliminated in a short while..However, A and E were on first look a close deal...However, I am sure if I were short of time, I would choose an option with minimal pronouns..which was E

Agatha Christie used her travels with her archaeologist husband to inspire several mystery novels

Awkward ..Also, one cant inspire novels..

Non idiomatic Used "X" as "Y"


Because her husband was an archaeologist, Agatha Christie was able to use their travels as inspiration for several of her mystery novels

Their is incorrect for singular subject

Together with her archaeologist husband, Agatha Christie was inspired to incorporate their travel into several of her mystery novels

Their doesnt agree with singular subject..."togther with" has no effect on deciding Subject verb agreement

Agatha Christie's travels with her archaeologist husband served as inspiration for several of her mystery novels


OA E
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by logitech » Tue Nov 18, 2008 3:27 pm
Created in 1731, Anders Celsius’ original thermometer had a scale where the value of 0 corresponded to the boiling point of water; after he died in 1744 the scale was reversed to its present form.

Another example of possessive poison.

HE can not refer to Anders Celsius
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by gmat009 » Tue Nov 18, 2008 7:57 pm
mals24 wrote: Here 'her' is an object pronoun which incorrectly refers to AC's travels.
What is "her" in choice E referring to...........
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by logitech » Tue Nov 18, 2008 8:42 pm
gmat009 wrote:
mals24 wrote: Here 'her' is an object pronoun which incorrectly refers to AC's travels.
What is "her" in choice E referring to...........
Agatha Christie's
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by vishubn » Tue Nov 18, 2008 10:14 pm
J.R.R Tolkein's Lord of the Ring inspired Peter Jackson to make a movie

Subject: J.R.R Tolkein's LOTR
Verb: inspired
Object: Peter Jackson.

Our question

Agatha Christie's travels inspired her to write several mystery novels

Subject: AC's travels
verb: inspired
Object pronoun: her

Here 'her' is an object pronoun which incorrectly refers to AC's travels.
I wrote the sentence in this way to show you what each word functions as.

A: Agatha Christie's travels with her archaeologist husband inspired her to write several mystery novels

The first 'her' is correctly used as a possessive pronoun to refer to AC's travels. However the 2nd her is used incorrectly since an object pronoun can never refer to a possessive noun. Hence this option is INCORRECT.
Indeed Nice Explanation mals!!

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by pbanavara » Mon Jan 12, 2009 6:41 pm
logitech wrote:Created in 1731, Anders Celsius’ original thermometer had a scale where the value of 0 corresponded to the boiling point of water; after he died in 1744 the scale was reversed to its present form.

Another example of possessive poison.

HE can not refer to Anders Celsius
Should this be after 'his death' then ?

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by logitech » Mon Jan 12, 2009 11:55 pm
pbanavara wrote:
logitech wrote:Created in 1731, Anders Celsius’ original thermometer had a scale where the value of 0 corresponded to the boiling point of water; after he died in 1744 the scale was reversed to its present form.

Another example of possessive poison.

HE can not refer to Anders Celsius
Should this be after 'his D€@th' then ?

- pradeep
HIS can refer to Anders Celsius’

I think you can use HIS death without violating any pronoun rules. (IMO)
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by hariharakarthi » Tue Jan 13, 2009 6:35 am
Agatha Christie's travels with her archaeologist husband served as inspiration for several of her mystery novels

Break down of the sentence:

Subject : Agatja Christie's travels
phrase: with her arch husbend
verb : served

adverb : as inspiration

object: mystery novels.
object pronoun: her


MGMAT Explanation:
Jose's room is so messy that HIS mother calls HIM a pig

HIS - possessive prononun - refers to Jose's possessive noun
Subject and object pronoin can not refer back to posseive noun.
hene, the correct sentence would be

Jose's room is so messy that HIS mother calls JOSE a pig

Now, compare the explanation with correct ans choice of original SC..
I think the ans choice should be

Agatha Christie's travels with her archaeologist husband served as inspiration for several of Agatha Christie's mystery novels

Correct me if i am wrong...

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by Edthesock » Thu Feb 05, 2009 9:11 pm
mals24, I don't think the errors you gave were fair, it has more to do with what the sentences are actually 'technically' saying.

A) Agatha Christie's travels with her archaeologist husband inspired her to write several mystery novels; travelers to Egypt can still stay at the Old Cataract Hotel, the model for the hotel in one of Christie's most famous books.

- This sentence is saying that the travels inspired her to write the books. technically, the books then might not even have anything to do about the travels, just the trip inspired her to write for some odd reason. The message that is intended is that the travels gave experiences that contributed to the books in some way, not that the travels made her want to write books.

B) Agatha Christie used her travels with her archaeologist husband to inspire several mystery novels.

- This technically means that she's using the travels to make the novels feel inspired, like she's the novels' coach, and the novels are a football team or something. like she... brought her travels to a pep rally to make the novels feel really inspired, it just doesn't make any sense.

C) Because her husband was an archaeologist, Agatha Christie was able to use their travels as inspiration for several of her mystery novels.

- So because her husband's an archeologist, that makes her more able to use their travels as an inspiration for the books she writes? As if him being a doctor or lawyer or any profession would make her more able to use those travels effectively for writing inspiration... it doesn't make sense.

D) Together with her archaeologist husband, Agatha Christie was inspired to incorporate their travel into several of her mystery novels.

- So together, she was inspired to do stuff... Think about that grammatically. 'Together, I masturbated'. When you interpret the grammatical meaning of this answer choice, it's just retarded, even though you instinctively catch the intended meaning while the technical one is elusive.

E) Agatha Christie's travels with her archaeologist husband served as inspiration for several of her mystery novels.

- This is the only one that communicates the true meaning: Her travels were inspirational, and she used them to help her write the damn novels. This was how I got it, but I'll admit that I googled this to verify my answer/thinking.
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by tanviet » Tue Dec 01, 2009 3:42 am
thank mals24 very much

how do you get this reference? in OG or In general grammar book.pls, tell me

I wish to sum up

possesive pronoun can refer to possesive noun

object pronoun and subject pronoun can not refer to possesive noun

"such+noun" must refer to noun (not possesive noun)
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by RumpelThickSkin » Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:37 pm
okay begining to understand this concept a bit. I got both this and the Thermometer (mentioned by someone earlier in the post) question wrong! Where can I read up on these rules, still not a 100% clear?
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