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by saurabh_maths » Wed Mar 02, 2011 5:51 pm
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


I am lil confused with this one. Can some one help !

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by Target2009 » Wed Mar 02, 2011 8:30 pm
saurabh_maths wrote: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 : them Ambiguous
(B) the best known is Martin Luther : Correct
(C) the better known of them was Martin Luther : We need superlative instead of comparative
(D) Martin Luther is better known : We need superlative instead of comparative
(E) the best known one was Martin Luther : One Ambiguous
IMO : B
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by examsample » Wed Mar 02, 2011 8:43 pm
The correct answer is B.
In A and E, them and one (respectively) are ambiguous, while in options C and D 'better' is comparative whereas we need superlative.

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by mk101 » Wed Mar 02, 2011 8:54 pm
IMO B.

But suppose option D were
Martin Luther is the best known .. then what would be the correct answer - Option B or D?

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by aspirant2011 » Wed Mar 02, 2011 9:26 pm
I would also go with B because its succinct and without any error.............wats the OA?

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by AIM GMAT » Thu Mar 03, 2011 5:41 am
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
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by GMATMadeEasy » Thu Mar 03, 2011 6:02 am
I would say D but will wait for the OA.

Answer choice should start with a person because of modifier "of the people" . Only A and D are contendors. A has uncesary "them" that we don't need as "of people" already communicated intended meaning .

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by saurabh_maths » Thu Mar 03, 2011 5:08 pm
OA is B .

I was confused b/w A & B and chose A. I thought as sentence starts with a modifier we shd have same comparable thing following the modifier.

Thus 'of the people' should be compared to 'Martin' .

Where am I wrong in my reasoning ?

(Although B sounds better than A as A has unncessary 'them' in it.)

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by tetura84 » Fri Mar 04, 2011 5:10 am
mk101 wrote:IMO B.

But suppose option D were
Martin Luther is the best known .. then what would be the correct answer - Option B or D?
I think in that case also B would be the correct answer.
Of the people who brought about the Reformation ... the best known is Martin Luther = this is correct.
"Of the people who brought about the Reformation " - this is a modifier, and correctly modifies the best known. Modifiers should be as close as possible with what is being modified. Martin Luther cannot be close to the modifier.
Last edited by tetura84 on Fri Mar 04, 2011 11:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by GMATGuruNY » Fri Mar 04, 2011 6:15 am
saurabh_maths wrote: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


I am lil confused with this one. Can some one help !
Quick approach:

A comparative adjective that ends in -er (such as better) should not be used to compare more than 2 things. Eliminate C and D.

The modifier of the people is describing the best known: the best known of the people is Martin Luther. Since A places the wrong noun (Martin Luther) next to the introductory phrase, eliminate A.

In E, the pronoun one is unnecessary and has no clear antecedent. Since Martin Luther still is the best known, the past tense verb was changes the intended meaning of the sentence. Eliminate E.

The correct answer is B.
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by GMATMadeEasy » Fri Mar 04, 2011 6:47 am
@ Mitch
The modifier of the people is describing the best known: the best known of the people is Martin Luther.


Could you explain why we can't start the sentence with martin Luthar ? "of the people" should follow someone fro mpeople no ?

I agree answer should be B .

Example : Among things I hate most, studying for GMAT is the one.
or of the things I hate most, studying for GMAT is the one .

Are the above two are incorrect ?

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by GMATGuruNY » Fri Mar 04, 2011 7:10 am
GMATMadeEasy wrote:@ Mitch
The modifier of the people is describing the best known: the best known of the people is Martin Luther.


Could you explain why we can't start the sentence with martin Luthar ? "of the people" should follow someone fro mpeople no ?

I agree answer should be B .

Example : Among things I hate most, studying for GMAT is the one.
or of the things I hate most, studying for GMAT is the one .

Are the above two are incorrect ?
My argument is that of the people is not modifying Martin Luther: Martin Luther of the people makes no sense. A modifier should be as close as possible to what it's modifying. Of the people is modifying the best known, so this noun should be placed after the modifying phrase: of the people who brought about the Reformation, the best known is Martin Luther.

That being said, I doubt that the GMAT writers would offer two answers whose only difference was the best known versus Martin Luther. To cover themselves, the GMAT writers would include other errors (such as the unnecessary them in answer choice A and the misuse of better in answer choice D).

Since studying for the GMAT is among the things you hate most (we'll talk more about that later), it's correct to say:

Among the things I hate most, studying for the GMAT is the absolute worst.

It just makes me :cry: .
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by Stuart@KaplanGMAT » Sat Mar 05, 2011 6:47 am
mk101 wrote:IMO B.

But suppose option D were
Martin Luther is the best known .. then what would be the correct answer - Option B or D?
"Of the people ..." could certainly be describing Martin Luther (since he's one of those people), so there would be no error with either choice. Stylistically they're way too close for the GMAT, so the answer to the question is "you'll never have to make that choice on the actual exam".

In other words, if you changed (D) to your version, then (B) couldn't exist in its current state - you can't have two correct answers!
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