BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem
TTP OnDemand GMAT Video Course
Featured Course

Target Test Prep GMAT OnDemand

Scott Woodbury-Stewart’s private virtual classroom — 400 hours of master-class video lessons for the GMAT Focus Edition.

  • 715+ score guarantee — highest in the industry (99th percentile)
  • 52 chapters · 1,500+ lessons · 4,000+ practice questions
  • 400 hours of video · 1,500+ instructor-led HD smartboard lessons
  • 300,000+ students accepted to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Booth & Sloan & more
  • 24/7 live support + weekly Zoom office hours with GMAT instructors
  • TTP AI Assist — 24/7 AI-powered virtual tutor for instant help
  • 1,200+ flashcards + AI-powered study assistant & daily calendar
  • OnDemand, LiveTeach & GMAT Bootcamp formats available
  • Also: GRE, SAT Math & Executive Assessment courses
  • MBA Admissions Consulting now available
  • 🏆 2025 EdTech Breakthrough Award: Test Prep Solution Provider of the Year
  • 200,000+ students served
  • 5-day free trial — $0 to start, no auto-billing, cancel anytime
★★★★★ 5.0 (559 reviews)
130-pt guarantee
$0 to start then $127/mo
Start Free 5-Day Trial Read 559 Reviews →

con-l wisdom

Expert replies
Post new topic Locked
Previous Topic Next Topic
Source: — Sentence Correction |
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:05 am
Thanked: 6 times

by shulapa » Mon Mar 30, 2009 6:17 am
Hi,

This question actually deals with two major issues:
1. Passive Vs. active voice - Avoid passive voice when there are people doing some kind of action.
2. Instead of Vs. Rather than - when there is a choice being made go for Rather than (much more common).

Therefore,

A & B can be eliminated by the first issue (they are both in passive voice).
C & E can be eliminated because of the use of instead of which does not fit here (columbus choose to sail west).

IMO D.

Note that the of "having been" is like because he was...
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 115
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2008 3:17 am
Thanked: 1 times

by kartik1979 » Mon Mar 30, 2009 6:47 am
dont know if whatever i state is totally right but here goes

the statement states an action or event in the past hence Accept would be more suitable than " Accepting " which mean the action is going on

also In choice between whether and if- there are two choices for columbus he can reach india or not reach india hence would go with whether


Hence D
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 115
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2008 3:17 am
Thanked: 1 times

by kartik1979 » Mon Mar 30, 2009 6:49 am
Oa Please
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 207
Joined: Mon Mar 09, 2009 9:33 pmFollowed by: 24 members
Thanked: 115 times
GMAT Score:750

by TedCornell » Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:55 am
I would pick D, but I don't have a solid reason for eliminating C.

Usage of if vs whether
"if" is only appropriate in cases for which there is a condition (if clause) and a consequence (then clause). For example
  • "If you eat my sandwich, I will be upset." Correct. There is a condition (1st clause) and a consequence..
    "I would buy a house if I were rich." Correct. There is a condition (2nd clause) and a consequence.

    "I don't know if I can afford this house." Incorrect. One could argue that "I can afford" is a condition, but what is the consequence? "If I can afford this house" then what?? This sentence shows how "if" is used in incorrect GMAT sentences. In fact, "whether" is appropriate here.

    "Columbus sailed to see if he could reach India" Incorrect. What is the condition, and what is the consequence? "If he could reach India" then what?? In this case, "whether" is appropriate.
"whether" should be used to express the possibility of two outcomes. For example:
  • "I wonder whether I can afford this house." Correct. This emphasizes the two possibilities: either I can afford or I cannot afford

    "Columbus was sent to see whether he could reach India." Correct. Either Columbus could reach India or he could not.

    "If" and "whether" cannot be interchanged. In this sentence, "if" is incorrect. "whether" is correct. Eliminate A, B, and E
The only thing that separates C from D is "Instead of" vs "Rather than". My understanding is that their meaning is almost the same and that the correct idiomatic usage is: Instead of (-ing); Rather than (infinitive). It seems to me that both C and D are well structured.

I could be wrong here (BS alert), but I think "Rather than accept" is a better option than "Instead of accepting" because of meaning. It's difficult to explain, which indicates that I'm not clear myself, but I feel like "accept" is better suited to the sentence because we are not trying to emphasize a process. Remember that -ing terms are used to show an ongoing process.

I would pick D

(I recommend OG and GMATFix to polish your verbal)
Last edited by TedCornell on Mon Mar 30, 2009 9:11 am, edited 3 times in total.
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 207
Joined: Mon Mar 09, 2009 9:33 pmFollowed by: 24 members
Thanked: 115 times
GMAT Score:750

by TedCornell » Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:59 am
shulapa wrote:Hi,

This question actually deals with two major issues:
1. Passive Vs. active voice - Avoid passive voice when there are people doing some kind of action.
I agree with this in general. In this sentence however, every answer choice uses the passive voice, so active vs passive is not a great way to narrow down the answers.

(A) Columbus was sent by the king
(B) same as A
(C) having been sent by the king
(D) same as C
(E) same as A

The usage of "by" after the verb indicates a passive construct.
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 207
Joined: Mon Mar 09, 2009 9:33 pmFollowed by: 24 members
Thanked: 115 times
GMAT Score:750

by TedCornell » Mon Mar 30, 2009 9:04 am
kartik1979 wrote:dont know if whatever i state is totally right but here goes

the statement states an action or event in the past hence Accept would be more suitable than " Accepting " which mean the action is going on
"Accepting" along with other -ing on its own does not limit the action to the past, present, or future; It simply emphasizes that the action is ongoing.
(1) "Hoping for the best, I jumped in the pool." -ing expresses a past action.
(2) "I will be hoping for the best when I jump in the pool." -ing expresses future action.
(3) "I am hoping for the best." -ing expresses a present action.
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 72
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2009 10:05 pm
Thanked: 2 times

by nasa » Mon Mar 30, 2009 7:49 pm
This is quite challenging question :)
Well let us look at what the original sentence actually means:
(Meaning should be preserved)
Instead of accepting X, the king wanted to know whether Columbus could reach India by sailing westwards.

In all the answer choices passive choice is used, so temproarily use active forms.
A) becomes "Rather than accept the conventional wisdom ... , king sent Columbus to see if he could reach India by sailing West
- this preserves the meaning. Also West is given prominence by keeping it the last word - as though it is the central idea. Original form does not have any error except for the less appropriate "if he could" phrase
B) A is more concise than B in the usage of accept .
C) Columbus becomes the subject and looks he did not accept the conventional wisdom. "having been sent by" is wordy and awkward and is used as a modifier to Columbus
D) Similiar problem
E) "to sail west to see if he could reach India" is wordy when compared to "if he could reach India by sailing West" as in A
The common problem sited by many responses to this question if vs whether. Though "if" is preferred to "whether" it is not wrong especially when the choices using whether distorts th meaning.
IMO A
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 72
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2009 10:05 pm
Thanked: 2 times

by nasa » Mon Mar 30, 2009 7:52 pm
Correction to my closing comment:
The common problem sited by many responses to this question is "if vs whether". Though "whether" is preferred to "if", c/D are wrong because they distort the meaning
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Legendary Member
Posts: 572
Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2008 9:25 am
Thanked: 21 times

by reachac » Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:33 pm
Good question.

First you must understand that when a question starts with or contains 'Rather than' or 'Instead of', the question(or options) are trying to draw a comparison between things. For the comparison to be true/correct the two things/clauses/phrases must be parallel.

Here, each of the options start in 'Rather than accept(ing)' or 'Instead of accepting'. Ask the question,Who is accepting? The answer would be Columbus. So this act of accepting(which is active voice) must be compared with another act of Columbus(which should also be active voice to maintain the paralleism). Hence the second part of comparison must contain 'sailed' and NOT any passive voice like 'was sent' etc

This eliminates A, B & E.
Now in C and D, C uses 'Instead of' and D uses' Rather than'.
'Instead of' is a preposition and only a Noun must follow a preposition.

So D it should be

Note:- Some users have correctly mentioned in their posts that GMAT prefers 'Rather than' to 'Instead of'. So when in doubt use 'RATHER THAN'

Cheers!
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 247
Joined: Sun Jul 27, 2008 1:39 am
Thanked: 2 times
GMAT Score:660

by orel » Tue Mar 31, 2009 1:55 am
Thank you all for the responses.
MGMAT explanation:

The original sentence contains several errors. First, the construction "X rather than Y" requires parallelism between X and Y, but the original sentence pairs an active verb ("accept") with a passive one ("was sent"). Second, the use of "if" in this context is incorrect. On the GMAT, "if" is used only to introduce conditional clauses (e.g. “if X, then Y”). Here, "whether" should be used instead of “if” to indicate uncertainty about reaching India by traveling west.

(A) This choice is incorrect as it repeats the original sentence.

(B) The construction "X rather than Y" requires parallelism between X and Y, but this choice pairs an active verb ("accepting") with a passive one ("was sent"). Second, the use of "if" in this context is incorrect. On the GMAT, "if" is used only to introduce conditional clauses (e.g. “if X, then Y”). Here, "whether" should be used instead of “if” to indicate uncertainty about reaching India by traveling west.

(C) This choice begins with "instead of," which is incorrectly used to compare the verbs “accepting” and “sailed.” When comparing verbs, “rather than” is the correct choice.

(D) CORRECT. This choice uses the construction “X rather than Y” to correctly compare the parallel active verbs “accept” and “sailed.” The uncertainty about reaching India by traveling west is correctly indicated by the word “whether.”

(E) This choice begins with "instead of," which is incorrectly used to compare the verbs “accepting” and “sailed.” When comparing verbs, “rather than” is the correct choice. Even if “instead of” were correct, the construction "X instead of Y" requires parallelism between X and Y, but this choice pairs an active verb ("accepting") with a passive one ("was sent"). Finally, the use of "if" in this context is incorrect. On the GMAT, "if" is used only to introduce conditional clauses (e.g. “if X, then Y”). Here, "whether" should be used instead of “if” to indicate uncertainty about reaching India by traveling west.

I have a question here: "Rather than" requires parallelism. But "ACCEPT" and "SAILED" are in different tenses. How they can be parallel?
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Post new topic Locked
• Page 1 of 1