Anton Chekhov - Prep Pack 1

[gmatwork]

[question deleted by moderator- banned source]

[isha.mehta24]

Explanation:
a. but during his lifetime that, here, that is used as a complementizer i.e., subordinating conjunction. and i think it can be done without any subordinating conjunction.( FYI, Subordinating conjunctions conjoin an IC and a DC. ) also, by far is wordy.
b. Correct english should be AC is better known for X than for Y; here, X and Y should be parrallel. But, in the option it is, AC is better known for X than he was for Y. Here, 'he was' is awkward, hence not required.
c. again, as in option b, option c has same error ' he was ' is not required. far better should precede known( modifier). also in seconed IC, after', but' , 'it' is ambiguous .
d. 'were' is violating parrallelism, not required.usage of 'it' is fallacious. again, that is not required.
e. correct usage of idiom 'AC is better known for X than for Y' , wherein X and Y are parrallel. ', but' is used here to join two ICs. construction is concise.

Hope, it will help.
Moderators, please comment.
Thank you

[tim]

isha, all of the errors you note are spot on, but most of your reasons are wrong. please note that if an explanation ever uses the words "awkward" or "wordy", that explanation is wrong - EVEN IF IT IS A DIRECT QUOTE FROM THE OFFICIAL GUIDE. to a lesser extent, "ambiguous" is also not likely to be used in a correct explanation..

[jyothi h]

A - the second half sentence has no working verb . "that" is used incorrectly

it would have made sense to say -
Blah Blah , but during his lifetime chekhov's stories made him popular <> ...
or
Blah Blah , but during his lifetime it was chekhov's stories that made him popular<> ...

B.I guess "far better" is preferable over "by far better" , in this particular scenario. .
By far is used when we need to stress on the degree or intensity of the two things to be compared.
and "far better" is a used in softer tone, where you just intend to convey one is better than the other , without stressing on the intensity . I dont if this makes any sense. I could be wrong . May be experts can help clear my doubt ?

But the main issue wth B is the inclusion of "he was" renders the sentence with bad parallelism.
Should be - better known for his plays than his stories.
or better known for his plays than for his storiess

C. Bad parallelism - "for his plays" is compared with "he was for his stories".

second half of the independent clause has two verbs - "Was" and "made". I dont know if there is term for these kind issues (quiet bad with remembering jargons) , but I know the sentence makes no sense .

Usage of "It" seems to be incorrect
Had the sentence read - "blah blah , but during his lifetime it was C's stories THAT made him........", would have been correct.


D . meaning issue- says - AC's stories were known for plays .
Also The second part of the sentence says something like this - it was during AC's lifetime , that the stories made him popular ( perhaps as opposed to any other time , may be after his death , or whatever). "IT" is referring to lifetime , instead of "stories" , (is pointing to some period rather than stories. This is not the intended meaning.

Would be glad if any of the experts could point out any mistake in my analysis

[jlucero]

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