SC: Though it is now universally accepted that William Shake

[nene.takeda]

Though it is now universally accepted that William Shakespeare was a real, historical person - which was once considered questionable - some still suspect him not to have written all of the works attributed as his own.

a) Though it is now universally accepted that William Shakespeare was a real, historical person - which was once considered questionable - some still suspect him not to have written all of the works attributed as his own.

b) Though William Shakespeare is now universally accepted to be a real, historical person - once considered as questionable - some still suspect him not to have written all of the works attributed to be his own.

c) William Shakespeare - now universally accepted as a real, historical person, though even this fact was once considered questionable - who is still suspected, by some, not to have written all of the works attributed to him.

d) Though it is now universally accepted that William Shakespeare was a real, historical person - a fact that was once considered questionable - he is still suspected, by some, of not having written all of the works attributed to him.

e) Some still suspect that William Shakespeare did not write all of the works attributed as his own, although it is now universally accepted that he was a real, historical person - a fact that was once considered questionable.


Hi! This question has just appeared to me when I was taking the first MGAT mock. In choice D, which is the correct one, what is the point in the construction "having written"? Is this a idiomatic verb form? Thanks!

[RonPurewal]

I'm sorry, but I don't understand your question. You're asking for "the point" of that construction, but it's not clear what that means. Meaning? Grammar?

Please clarify, thanks.

If you're asking about the grammar, then "---ing" is acting as a noun. It's like other nouns; there's nothing particularly special about the -ing.
He was suspected of treachery.
He was suspected of forming a plot to overthrow the government.

[fionaw752]

Hi Ron, happy new year.
I have a question about choice D,
I quote your explain from another thread:
"this is an acceptable construction - pronoun coming before antecedent, when the pronoun is in an initial modifier and the antecedent is in the main clause.
this is NOT acceptable if the pronoun is in the main clause and the antecedent is in a modifier that follows.
examples:
Although he had studied for hours, Thom failed the test --> acceptable
He failed the test, although Thom had studied for hours --> incorrect"
In your explain, you mentioned that a pronoun cannot be the subject in main clause whereas the antecedent is in the modifer following the main clause.
Is it correct to put the antecedent in modifier, and then use a pronoun in the main clause after the modifier?
example: Although Tom was late, he left office earlier than me.
same as the choice D in this problem. I eliminate choice D because I thought the pronoun cannot be the subject of main clause, now I assume I am wrong.
Please correct me, thanks in advance!

[RonPurewal]

neither "he" nor "William Shakespeare" is in a modifier here, so i'm not sure why this is supposed to be relevant.

__

[RonPurewal]

MUCH MORE IMPORTANTLY --
you're totally overthinking this.
remember, the problems on this test will NOT depend on tiny little nuances of grammar! that would defeat the whole point of this exam, which is to rely on MAJOR/FUNDAMENTAL issues that DON'T require tons and tons of studying or memorization.

as long as you can match up a pronoun and its antecedent -- WITHOUT thinking about "ambiguity", and WITHOUT thinking about tiny little grammatical nuances of the stuff surrounding the pronoun/antecedent -- that should be enough.