Critics of the trend toward privately operated prisons consider correc

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here: Idioms + Grammatical Construction + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• The word "considered" does not require a conjunction or a helping word/phrase; “consider/considered” is always followed directly by the noun, and the similar word "regarded" must be followed by the conjunction "as"; correct usages: Jack is “considered a math genius” or Jack is “regarded as a math genius”.
• “if” is used to refer to phrases that lead to a “then” clause and “whether" is used for showing alternatives; "whether" generally wins over "if" on GMAT.
• Semicolons and the “comma + conjunction” construction are used to link two independent clauses; commas are used to link an independent clause with a dependent one; comma cannot be used to join two independent clauses.
• “being” is only to be used when it is part of a noun phrase or represents the passive continuous verb tense; the use of passive continuous must be justified in the context.

A: This answer choice incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction “consider + to be”; remember, the word "considered" does not require a conjunction or a helping word/phrase; “consider/considered” is always followed directly by the noun. Further, Option A incorrectly uses “if” to present alternatives; remember, “whether" is used for showing alternatives, and “if” is used to refer to phrases that lead to a “then” clause.

B: This answer choice incorrectly uses a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) to join the independent clauses “Critics of the trend toward…justice system” and “they question if profits should be made from incarceration”; remember, semicolons and the “comma + conjunction” construction are used to link two independent clauses. Further, Option B incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction “consider + as”; remember, the word "considered" does not require a conjunction or a helping word/phrase; “consider/considered” is always followed directly by the noun. Additionally, Option B incorrectly uses “if” to present alternatives; remember, “whether" is used for showing alternatives, and “if” is used to refer to phrases that lead to a “then” clause.

C: This answer choice incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction “consider + as”; remember, the word "considered" does not require a conjunction or a helping word/phrase; “consider/considered” is always followed directly by the noun. Further, Option C incorrectly uses the word “being”, leading to awkwardness and redundancy; remember, “being” is only to be used when it is part of a noun phrase or represents the passive continuous verb tense; the use of passive continuous must be justified in the context.

D: Correct. This answer choice correctly and idiomatically uses “consider” without a conjunction or helping word/phrase, introducing the noun phrase “an indelible part of one’s identity” immediately after “consider”. Further, Option D correctly uses “whether” to present alternatives”. Additionally, the sentence formed by Option D avoids the grammatical construction error seen in Option B, as it contains only a single independent clause. Besides, Option D is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

E: This answer choice incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction “consider + verb (“is” in this case)”; remember, “consider/considered” is always followed directly by the noun.

Hence, D is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "If" Versus "Whether" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



To understand the use of punctuations on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~10 minutes):



To understand the concept of "Being" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team