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by gmat_perfect » Fri Aug 06, 2010 9:35 am
Famed for his masterful use of irony, many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics due to the author slowly revealing at the end of each piece a tragic twist of fate.

A. Famed for his masterful use of irony, many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics due to the author slowly revealing at the end of each piece a tragic twist of fate.

B. Many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics because of how he famously and masterfully uses irony, evident in the slow revelation of a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece.

C. Famed for using irony in a masterful way, many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics because of the author slowly revealing a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece.

D. Many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics because of the author's famed and masterful use of irony, evidenced in the slow revelation of a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece.

E. Many of Guy de Maupassant's short stories have become classics because he slowly revealed a tragic twist of fate at the end of each piece, demonstrating his famed and masterful use of irony.

[spoiler]OA: D[/spoiler]

What are the problems in B and in E?

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by thephoenix » Fri Aug 06, 2010 9:47 am
In B and E there is no antecedent for HE
both have possessive form of noun and need possessive pronoun
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by paes » Fri Aug 06, 2010 10:04 am
thephoenix wrote:In B and E there is no antecedent for HE
both have possessive form of noun and need possessive pronoun
Wrong Explanation.
NOTE : the above concept, given in MgMat, is not tested on GMAT.

B : wrong : 'because of how' :- wordy and redundant(how)
E : wrong : very good concept here

demonstrating his famed .....modifying to 'Guy de Maupassant's short stories' ->

can not modify to a passive sentence. Actually you can think it like : short stories can't do something by own.
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by gmat_perfect » Fri Aug 06, 2010 10:10 am
thephoenix wrote:In B and E there is no antecedent for HE
both have possessive form of noun and need possessive pronoun

==> Meaning that "possessive NOUN/Pronoun" cannot be antecedent of a subject pronoun. AM I right?

Would any one explain in detail?

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by indiantiger » Fri Aug 06, 2010 10:27 am
Answer should be D,

B and E are good case of possessive poison

Possessive nouns can only serve antecedent to possessive pronouns not to subject or object pronouns
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by Stacey Koprince » Fri Aug 13, 2010 7:08 pm
If you have a possessive NOUN and you want to use a pronoun to refer to it, then that pronoun needs to be a possessive pronoun. Yes, that's a grammar rule.

It is very rarely tested on the GMAT. I have seen it tested a couple of times over the last 15 years - so it can show up, but it's really not likely.

We have lately begun to downplay this rule for one very simple reason: people are much more likely to apply the rule incorrectly than they are to apply it correctly. I can't tell you how many people have told me "oh, so you can ONLY use possessive pronouns when you have a possessive noun" - but that's NOT the rule. The rule goes in one direction only: if you have a possessive NOUN, then you have to use a possessive pronoun to refer to it. But a possessive pronoun can refer to any kind of noun (including a possessive noun).
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