Question

read the source of the allusion. in george du mauriers novel trilby, svengali is a hypnotist who exerts such power over the central character that she is suddenly able to sing, which she was unable to do before. what is the meaning of the allusion in the sentence below? jeffreys recent behavior made his parents begin to see his friend ted as some sort of svengali. a person with an unduly strong influence over someone else a person whose motives are not what they appear to be at first

Explanation:

In the novel, Svengali has strong power over another character. In the given sentence, Ted is compared to Svengali, suggesting he has an unduly strong influence over Jeffrey.

Answer:

a person with an unduly strong influence over someone else