Idiom: consider

[jeffq]

 

I thought that the correct idiom is "consider.." and not "consider to be." I have come across some SC where the correct answer contains, "consider ..to be." Are these answers wrong, or is "consider .. to be" acceptable?

[bwing3]

Hi,

 

As you correctly figured out, most of the cases the usage is "consider"; however I also encountered a sc in which the answer was "consider to be". As far as I remember the other choices had serious problems so I chose the one w consider to be.

 

In sum, I want to say that consider to be is an accepted (but rare) usage, however for the real gmat questions we'd better stick to "consider", I guess.

[myun]

I hope you can post the example of the sentences that you are discussing. What kind of sentences contain "consider to be"? Thanks a lot.

[jeffq]

Here is the example I found. This is from one of Kaplan's practice tests.

 

Written in the early 11th century by Lady Murasaki Shikibu as a fictionalized account of political and romantic intrigue in the Japanese imperial court, literary historians consider The Tale of Genji to be the world’s first novel.

 

A.) Shikibu as a fictionalized account of political and romantic intrigue in the Japanese imperial court, literary historians consider The Tale of Genji to be

 

B.) Shikibu in the manner of a fictionalized account of political and romantic intrigue in the Japanese imperial court, literary historians consider The Tale of Genji as

 

C.) Shikibu, a fictionalized accounting for political and romantic intrigue in the Japanese imperial court, literary historians consider The Tale of Genji

 

D.) Shikibu as a fictionalized account of political and romantic intrigue in the Japanese imperial court, The Tale of Genji is considered by literary historians to be

 

E.) Shikibu, The Tale of Genji is a fictionalized account of political and romantic intrigue in the Japanese imperial court which literary historians consider to be

 

[Erin]

I consider consider to be correct in GMATland :p [:o)] :p when the object complement is far the object.

 

Examples:

 

I consider you a friend.

 

In this sentence, the object and its complement are very close, so to be is unnecessary.

 

I consider what you did at the party last night that we went to after our bio class that we are finding so difficult to understand, let alone pass to be not just something that was uncalled for, but something that is actually worthy of scorn.

 

I think you can see that this sentence is hard to understand (and is actually not a very good sentence, but for my example, it works) and that in this case, adding to be makes the sentence more "parse-able."

 

Make sense?

[isha]

jeffq,

what is the correct answer to the queastion you posted ?

[nick.cheng]

The correct answer should be E.

 

[dkpbus]

Originally posted by jeffq

 

Here is the example I found. This is from one of Kaplan's practice tests.

 

Written in the early 11th century by Lady Murasaki Shikibu as a fictionalized account of political and romantic intrigue in the Japanese imperial court, literary historians consider The Tale of Genji to be the world’s first novel.

 

A.) Shikibu as a fictionalized account of political and romantic intrigue in the Japanese imperial court, literary historians consider The Tale of Genji to be

 

B.) Shikibu in the manner of a fictionalized account of political and romantic intrigue in the Japanese imperial court, literary historians consider The Tale of Genji as

 

C.) Shikibu, a fictionalized accounting for political and romantic intrigue in the Japanese imperial court, literary historians consider The Tale of Genji

 

D.) Shikibu as a fictionalized account of political and romantic intrigue in the Japanese imperial court, The Tale of Genji is considered by literary historians to be

 

E.) Shikibu, The Tale of Genji is a fictionalized account of political and romantic intrigue in the Japanese imperial court which literary historians consider to be

 

 

I think correct answer should be D passive form should be ok here ... Any comments..

[tsdvj]

I guess the answer is D.

 

In E, use of 'which' is ambiguous (The japanese imperial court?)

[dgajaria]

i think is E is the best ;'which' stands for novel.

 

Deepa:)

[boliver]

Erin - I am afraid I must correct you - I refer you to [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip] question no. 65

also PR state explicity that 'consider' should take no suffixes...there has been much discussion on this issue and it must be resolved for the good of everyone - Thank you E

[meetgoelabhi]

Written in the early 11th century by Lady Murasaki Shikibu as a fictionalized account of political and romantic intrigue in the Japanese imperial court, literary historians consider The Tale of Genji to be the world’s first novel.

 

A.) Shikibu as a fictionalized account of political and romantic intrigue in the Japanese imperial court, literary historians consider The Tale of Genji to be the world’s first novel.

 

B.) Shikibu in the manner of a fictionalized account of political and romantic intrigue in the Japanese imperial court, literary historians consider The Tale of Genji as

 

C.) Shikibu, a fictionalized accounting for political and romantic intrigue in the Japanese imperial court, literary historians consider The Tale of Genji

 

D.) Shikibu as a fictionalized account of political and romantic intrigue in the Japanese imperial court, The Tale of Genji is considered by literary historians to be

 

E.) Shikibu, The Tale of Genji is a fictionalized account of political and romantic intrigue in the Japanese imperial court which literary historians consider to be

 

for the above question answer is d.

A,B and C are out because of modifier problem.

E says "The Tale of Genji is a fictionalized account of political and romantic intrigue in the Japanese imperial court which literary historians consider to be the world’s first novel".

Now in E it seems "imperial court " is considered to be the first novel.Hence E is wrong.

so the answer is D.

[boliver]

i wonder whether this question, which obviously raises some debate would be set by ETS ??

[sunilbhat]

Check this from dictionary.com.

Synonyms:

consider, deem, regard, account, reckon

These verbs refer to holding opinions or views that are based on evaluation.

Consider

suggests objective reflection and reasoning: He considers success to be of little importance.

Deem

is more subjective, emphasizing judgment rather than contemplation: The faculty deemed the essay to be acceptable.

Regard

often implies a personal attitude: I regard your apology as genuine.

Account

and

reckon

in this sense are literary and imply calculated judgment: “I account no man to be a philosopher who attempts to do more” (John Henry Newman). “I cannot reckon you as an admirer” (Nathaniel Hawthorne).

[boliver]

GMATland ETS english and the english of the rest of the world are different ..otherwise we wold all b scoring 780 !!

consider TAKES NO SUFFIXES ....refer to Princeton review

[YEHAA]

I agree with boliver. in [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip], I saw a few questions in which consider takes no suffixes. it's a rule which should be known by heart

[sunilbhat]

I don't think GMAT english is different that what standard grammar books say. It's just that we have to make sure that we choose the formal language while answering our questions. I will trust a grammar book rather than princeton english

[jin00V]

boliver......You are right. In [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip], we should avoid using "as" or "to be" when using the verb 'consider'. But if I have to choose the answer for above question, I will choose D.

 

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English says, when the verb 'consider' is used in the passive voice, You can express as below.

 

i.g)If you had only 2 weeks for studying GMAT, which one would be considered to be the first thing to study? Verbal? Math?

 

Of course, Longman, like GMAT, suggests no usage of 'consider' followed by 'as' or 'to be' in the active voice. You know, we can say "It is believed that he has two kids" and also "He is believed to have two kids". That's why I think that we can use 'X is considered to be Y'.

 

But I haven't met the questions which deal with such kind of usage in [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip] and PT. So I don't think we can meet such question as above in real GMAT test. We'd better always consider the choice which use 'consider X as Y' or 'consider X to be Y' the wrong answer in real GMAT test. There is no choice but to choose 'D' for the answer in the question above. The only sentence which uses 'consider X Y' is C, but C can't be the right answer (literary historians were written????)