Sentence Correction

bonetlobo wrote:

richachampion wrote:Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better poet than her husband, later Elizabeth Barrett Browning was overshadowed by his success.

Hello Mitch, can you also clarify whether the original sentence has a pronoun error.

The introductory clause is "Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better poet than her husband". This clause has pronouns such as "she", "her" etc.

So, should this introductory clause have been directly followed by the Noun "Elizabeth Barrett Browning"?

Correct.
When an introductory modifier includes a pronoun without an antecedent, the referent must be a noun or noun phrase that appears DIRECTLY AFTER THE COMMA.
A: Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better poet than her husband, later Elizabeth Barrett Browning was overshadowed by his success.
Here, the introductory modifier includes two pronouns without an antecedent (she and her), but the referent for these pronouns -- Elizabeth Barrett Browning -- does NOT appear directly after the comma.
Eliminate A.

GMATGuruNY wrote: To convey a clear comparison, THE better must be PRECEDED by the the two nouns being compared.
Anyone who sees a film featuring the team of Adam and Bob invariably concludes that Adam is THE better actor.
Here, THE better is correctly preceded by Adam and Bob (the two nouns being compared).
In A, the better is NOT preceded by her husband (one of the two nouns being compared).
Eliminate A.

Mitch: Would it work If we used 'A better poet' instead?

Nina1987 wrote:Mitch: Would it work If we used 'A better poet' instead?

The following would be correct:
Although she was considered a better poet than her husband...

Hello!

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

I eliminated this choice solely based on the missing antecedent for she - since Elizabeth Barrett Browning's can't be a person, it is possessive

I realize there is an idiom error in the rest of the choices that makes (D) correct (considered as/ to be/considered).
So eliminating based on JUST an idiom is OK? After noticing both the idiom and pronoun issues, I decided to choose based on pronoun error v/s idiom error.

Is there anything else that is wrong with B (other than the idiom issue)? D clearly has an antecedent issue but because the OG let this slide, it seems when faced with an idiom v/s pronoun issue- the idiom takes precedence? Should I not eliminate answer choices based on this pronoun issue in the future?

Besides, aren't considered and considered to be both correct? Just used differently - in this context, considered is correct.

nk18967 wrote:Hello!

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

I eliminated this choice solely based on the missing antecedent for she - since Elizabeth Barrett Browning's can't be a person, it is possessive

This line of reasoning is incorrect.
In the OA, it is crystal clear that the intended referent for she is Elizabeth Barrett Browning, so there is no pronoun error.
I address this issue in my first post.

I realize there is an idiom error in the rest of the choices that makes (D) correct (considered as/ to be/considered).
So eliminating based on JUST an idiom is OK?

An answer choice may be eliminated solely because it contains an idiom error.

Is there anything else that is wrong with B (other than the idiom issue)?

The comparison in B is illogical.
I discuss this issue in my first post.

Besides, aren't considered and considered to be both correct? Just used differently - in this context, considered is correct.

On the GMAT, consider to be is incorrect.

Note the following:
In the OA, the referent for she (subject pronoun) seems to be Elizabeth Barrett Browning's (a possessive).
In years past, this sort of construction was thought to be an error on the GMAT.
The OA to SC138 in the OG16 establishes a precedent:
On the current GMAT, it is permissible for a subject pronoun such as she to serve to refer to a possessive.

Hi Mitch,

Wow - that's an interesting point. Seems like GMAC has changed their stance on possessive-pronoun poison rule.

does that mean now we shouldn't be worried about a non-possessive pronoun referring to a possessive antecedent?(and not consider it an error on SC)

Regards
SR

solitaryreaper wrote:Hi Mitch,

Wow - that's an interesting point. Seems like GMAC has changed their stance on possessive-pronoun poison rule.

does that mean now we shouldn't be worried about a non-possessive pronoun referring to a possessive antecedent?(and not consider it an error on SC)

Regards
SR

Correct.
Do not eliminate an answer choice simply because it includes a subject or object pronoun referring to a possessive.

Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one thing at a time, and narrow it down to the correct choice quickly! First, here is the original question with any major differences highlighted in orange:

Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better poet than her husband, later Elizabeth Barrett Browning was overshadowed by his success.

(A) Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better poet than her husband, later Elizabeth Barrett Browning was overshadowed by his success.
(B) Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning was considered among her contemporaries as a better poet than her husband, she was later overshadowed by his success.
(C) Later overshadowed by the success of her husband, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry had been considered among her contemporaries to be better than that of her husband.
(D) Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning's success was later overshadowed by that of her husband, among her contemporaries she was considered the better poet.
(E) Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry was considered among her contemporaries as better than her husband, but her success was later overshadowed by his.

While there is a lot we could focus on, there are 2 main areas we can start with:

1. How Browning is compared to her husband (Idioms)
2. How Browning was overshadowed by her husband (Parallelism)

Let's start with #1 on our list: how the sentence compares Browning to her husband. This is an issue of idiom structure with comparisons. We need to make sure that each sentence follows the general rules of how to compare two items:

X is better than Y
X is considered Y
X is considered to be Y

Let's take a close look at each sentence and determine if each uses the proper idiom formats. If not, let's eliminate them:

(A) Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better poet than her husband, later Elizabeth Barrett Browning was overshadowed by his success.

considered...to be = OKAY
she was...better than her husband = OKAY

(B) Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning was considered among her contemporaries as a better poet than her husband, she was later overshadowed by his success.

considered...as = WRONG
Browning was...better than her husband = OKAY

(C) Later overshadowed by the success of her husband, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry had been considered among her contemporaries to be better than that of her husband.

considered...to be = OKAY
Browning's poetry had been...better than that of her husband = OKAY

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

she was considered... = OKAY
she was...the better poet = OKAY

(E) Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry was considered among her contemporaries as better than her husband, but her success was later overshadowed by his.

considered...as = WRONG
Browning's poetry...better than her husband = OKAY

We can eliminate options B & E because they use one or both idioms incorrectly. Now that we have it narrowed down to 3 options, let's tackle #2 on our list. We need to make sure that the items being compared in each sentence are parallel!

(A) Although she was considered among her contemporaries to be the better poet than her husband, later Elizabeth Barrett Browning was overshadowed by his success.

This is INCORRECT because it's not idiomatically correct to say that Browning is "the better poet than" her husband. It's best to say she is "a better poet" than her husband, or just say that between the two of them, she is "the better poet."

(C) Later overshadowed by the success of her husband, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry had been considered among her contemporaries to be better than that of her husband.

This is INCORRECT because it contains a misleading modifier. Who/what was overshadowed by the husband's success? The wife! It doesn't make sense to compare the husband's success to the wife's poetry - that's not parallel. The sentence needs to clearly contrast the husband's success with the wife's success to be parallel.

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

This is CORRECT! It uses parallel structure to compare Browning's success to her husband's success, and it correctly handles the comparison of their abilities as poets by saying she is "the better poet."


There you have it - option D is the correct choice!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

D is correct
Success is overshadowed by the success of and not by some person
A,B and E are wrong comparisons
C is misplaced modifier