Quote:
Beyond the immediate cash flow crisis that the museum faces, its survival depends on if it can broaden its membership and leave its cramped quarters for a site where it can store and exhibit its more than 12,000 artifacts.
(A) if it can broaden its membership and leave
(B) whether it can broaden its membership and leave
(C) whether or not it has the capability to broaden its membership and can leave
(D) its ability for broadening its membership and leaving
(E) the ability for it to broaden its membership and leave
explain please
honchos wrote:
Mike can you please help us to understand why D and E are wrong here-
Dear
honchos,
I'm happy to respond.
This question has a clear OA of
(B). Why are
(D) and
(E) incorrect?
Choice
(D) makes an idiom mistake, pure and simple. The adjective "
able" and the noun "
ability" take the infinitive 100% of the time, never never never "
for" + [gerund]. Choice
(D) make this classic idiom mistake and is just plain wrong. For more on this idiom, see:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/verbs-that ... -the-gmat/Choice
(E) is trickier. It is 100% grammatically correct, but awkward --- a bit too wordy and indirect. Compare it to the OA:
(B) whether it can broaden ... clean, crisp, direct, powerful
(E) the ability for it to broaden ... clunky, wordy, mealymouthed, awkward
Whenever we encapsulate action as a noun ("
ability") instead of as a verb ("
can"), we are making the entire sentence less direct and less powerful. Such a move is almost always wrong on the GMAT SC. Action should be expressed as verbs, to give the sentence the most punch. See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/active-verbs-on-the-gmat/Does all this make sense?
Mike
_________________
Mike McGarry
Magoosh Test PrepEducation is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. — William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939)