Spidey's SC notes

bbuisson wrote:I just started using these notes, but was curious if they may be out-dated. Certainly grammer isn't changing, but comments like "On the GMAT, whether will almost always beat if" or "the GMAT is looking for..." Basically, have the GMAT brains changed their emphasis or bounds of acceptability since spidey made the notes?

i've not heard of spidey's notes, but the comment about whether vs. if is accurate. in particular, if you're referring to the answer to a yes/no question or the outcome of an event, you should use 'whether'. 'if', by contrast, should be reserved strictly for actual 'if-then' hypotheticals. for instance:
her father wanted to see whether she would perform household chores without the expectation of an allowance --> correct
her father wanted to see if she would perform household chores without the expectation of an allowance --> incorrect
taken literally, the second sentence means 'if the daughter would perform household chores ..., then her father wanted to see', a meaning that is risible if not outright nonsensical.