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Black Death

by [email protected] » Fri Apr 30, 2010 6:06 am
To this day, researchers and theorists debate whether bubonic plague caused The Black Death, a pandemic that swept the world in the middle of the fourteenth century.

A. whether
B. whether or not
C. about whether
D. as to whether
E. if
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by pradeepkaushal9518 » Fri Apr 30, 2010 6:12 am
imo D
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by FightWithGMAT » Fri Apr 30, 2010 6:16 am
Debate about or Debate over

IMO C
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by beat_gmat_09 » Fri Apr 30, 2010 7:31 am
[email protected] wrote:To this day, researchers and theorists debate whether bubonic plague caused The Black Death, a pandemic that swept the world in the middle of the fourteenth century.

A. whether
B. whether or not
C. about whether
D. as to whether
E. if
if is used when a hypothetical condition is to be presented.
here whether is correct to use - when two alternatives are presented and one is to choose.

whether...or not, whether or not in this sentence is correct idiom.
Hence B.
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by FightWithGMAT » Fri Apr 30, 2010 7:36 am
beat_gmat_09 wrote:
[email protected] wrote:To this day, researchers and theorists debate whether bubonic plague caused The Black Death, a pandemic that swept the world in the middle of the fourteenth century.

A. whether
B. whether or not
C. about whether
D. as to whether
E. if
if is used when a hypothetical condition is to be presented.
here whether is correct to use - when two alternatives are presented and one is to choose.

whether...or not, whether or not in this sentence is correct idiom.
Hence B.
If I am correct, "whether or not" is always wrong in GMAT. Only "whether" is correct usage.
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by akhpad » Fri Apr 30, 2010 7:54 am
Idiom
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/debate

A. whether -> Correct
B. whether or not
C. about whether -> Incorrect use
D. as to whether -> Incorrect use
E. if -> Incorrect use
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by sumanr84 » Fri Apr 30, 2010 8:05 am
+1 for A
I am on a break !!
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by aspirant2010 » Fri Apr 30, 2010 8:24 am
+1 for A.........wats the OA
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by thephoenix » Fri Apr 30, 2010 8:45 am
Debate about is unidiomatic
the correct form as sited above is debate with someone about something
IMO A
Many of the great achievements of the world were accomplished by tired and discouraged men who kept on working
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by [email protected] » Sat May 01, 2010 11:15 am
OA is option A.

But, I am still not clear why not we can use 'if' here or why we should use 'whether' here.
Could anyone help please ?
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by beat_gmat_09 » Sat May 01, 2010 7:25 pm
[email protected] wrote:OA is option A.

But, I am still not clear why not we can use 'if' here or why we should use 'whether' here.
Could anyone help please ?
if is used when a hypothetical condition is to be presented.
here whether is correct to use - when two alternatives are presented and one is to choose.

Thanks for the correct idiom guys.
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by akhpad » Sat May 01, 2010 11:15 pm
[email protected] wrote:OA is option A.

But, I am still not clear why not we can use 'if' here or why we should use 'whether' here.
Could anyone help please ?
If reserved for conditional and hypothetical sentence. Some example, you can see in below image.


Image

Whether used in case you have option to select.

I will get admission in good MBA school whether my GMAT score is below 700 or above 700.
Do you know whether he's coming?
Do you know whether he's coming or not ? -> redundant. This is the reason that A is better than B.
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