To this day, researchers and theorists debate ...

This topic has expert replies
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 180
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2009 3:46 pm
Thanked: 5 times
Followed by:2 members
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


Can anyone tell me why this is the answer?





OA: A

My thoughts - I thought the idiom was whether or not
Source: — Sentence Correction |

User avatar
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 51
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 9:00 am
Thanked: 6 times

by anksgupta » Thu Jun 18, 2009 6:40 pm
Whether or not is incorrect in gmat. 'Whether' should be used. Hence A

About whether or as to whether are bringing redundancy. Whether is short n concise
Live n Love GMAT

Legendary Member
Posts: 2467
Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2008 6:14 pm
Thanked: 331 times
Followed by:11 members

by cramya » Thu Jun 18, 2009 7:38 pm
whether or not is a redundant expression but we tend to use it on a day to day communication

Hence A

Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 63
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:22 am
Location: hyderabad

by rahulsaroha » Fri Jun 19, 2009 2:43 am
whether or not could never be correct...............
it's always wrong...
whether....this......would be given to me or not.....is also used but it's also wrong..
correct idiom is..
whether this could be given to me..
that's alll
rahul

• Page 1 of 1