Some biographers have not only disputed the common notion that Edgar

When I see something like not only... (but also), I immediately check a couple of things:
1. Whether basic parallelism is maintained
2. Whether any element that is "distributed" leads to idiomatic issues

Let's look at the 5 options:
A. Option A passes both these tests. Have not only disputed but also questioned is absolutely fine.
B. This option fails both tests. Have disputed (verb) is not parallel to over (preposition), and if we combine some biographers with the second element, we get "some biographers over whether", which is not idiomatic.
C. Can we say "have disputed whether"? Yes, we can, so this option passes the second test. It does, however, fail the first, as it asks us to make a "pure" noun parallel to something that is a little more complex. This is not the straightforward parallelism that the GMAT normally tests.
D. This option asks us to "distribute" the have from inside the not only, over to the element after but also. Some people think this is impossible. I don't, but I'm not trying to say that we should be very enthusiastic about something like this. This is a major red flag.
E. This option fails both tests. That Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess is not parallel to questioned, and if we combine some biographers have disputed the common notion with the second element, we get "some biographers have disputed the common notion questioned whether", which is not idiomatic.

So, we can safely remove B and E, and we have very strong reasons to remove C and D. We also have an option that doesn't seem to have any errors, A. At this point, I'd just mark A and move on. If we wanted to be absolutely sure, though, we could look at other issues, like meaning and tenses.

Option C leads to:
Some biographers have disputed not only the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also whether he may not have drunk at all. ← Wait. So they have (a) disputed the common notion that he drank too much and (b) disputed whether he may NOT have drunk at all? That makes no sense. Not only... but also indicates a continuation. So, surely, when they say that he didn't drink too much, they would not really dispute whether he did not drink at all. That is, they may say that he did not drink at all, but they would not dispute "he did not drink at all".

Option D leads to:
Some biographers not only have disputed the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also questioned whether or not he had drunk at all. ← Everyone's favorite tense, the past perfect. But are we trying to "pull" the had drunk back before something else? No, because we're looking at something that is more like a habit.

As for the whether or not, I don't have any strong opinions on that structure. I would try to avoid marking an option that contains the or not, but I wouldn't make this a "never correct on the GMAT" rule.
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Some biographers have not only disputed the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also questioned whether he drank at all.

Not only...but also is a parallel marker. Whatever comes after not only should be logically parallel to what comes after but also.

(A) have not only disputed the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also questioned whether he drank (not only disputed...but also questioned. Correct use of tenses, logically parallel.)
(B) not only have disputed the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also over whether he drank (not only have disputed...but also over whether he drank. Incorrect)
(C) have disputed not only the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also whether he may not have drunk (not only the common notion...but also whether he may. Common notion cannot be parallel to he may. Incorrect)
(D) not only have disputed the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also questioned whether or not he had drunk (not only have disputed...but also questioned. Tense error. Incorrect)
(E) have disputed the common notion not only that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also questioned whether he may not have drunk (not only that Edgar Allan Poe drank...but also questioned whether he may. Incorrect)

Some biographers have not only disputed the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also questioned whether he drank at all.

(A) have not only disputed the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also questioned whether he drank
(B) not only have disputed the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also over whether he drank
(C) have disputed not only the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also whether he may not have drunk
(D) not only have disputed the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also questioned whether or not he had drunk
(E) have disputed the common notion not only that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also questioned whether he may not have drunk

In the second half of the prompt, the use of "whether" with "may not" is redundant, as both mean the possibility of something happening or not happening, only two outcomes.
So strike off options C and E.

The use of the phrase, "whether or not" is always wrong on the GMAT as the word "whether" in itself gives only two possibilities, yes or no.
So strike off option D.

In option B, "not only" follows "have disputed" and "but also" follows "over whether", hence parallelism is lost. Strike off this option.

Option A is the winner.

The decision point for me was the use of not only (verb), but also (verb). A and E use this structure correctly. After that, "may not" is redundant with the use of whether.

Official Explanation

Parallelism; Idiom

All the possible answer choices here use the construction not only . . . but also . . . We can easily eliminate the choices that use the construction inappropriately. The construction is used appropriately only if what immediately follows not only and but also are grammatically parallel. For example, if what immediately follows not only is an adjectival phrase, then what immediately follows but also must also be an adjectival phrase. If what immediately follows not only is a verb phrase, then what immediately follows but also must also be a verb phrase. And so on. The sentence here correctly uses the not only . . . but also . . . construction: what immediately follows not only is a verb phrase (disputed the common notion . . . ), and what immediately follows but also (questioned whether he drank at all) is a verb phrase as well.

A. Correct. This choice uses not only . . . but also . . . appropriately, employing appropriately parallel structures.
B. This choice does not use not only . . . but also . . . appropriately, because what immediately follows not only is not grammatically parallel with what immediately follows but only.
C. This choice does not use not only . . . but also . . . appropriately, because what immediately follows not only is not grammatically parallel with what immediately follows but only.
D. This choice does not use not only . . . but also . . . appropriately, because what immediately follows not only is not grammatically parallel with what immediately follows but only.
E. This choice does not use not only . . . but also . . . appropriately, because what immediately follows not only is not grammatically parallel with what immediately follows but only.

The correct answer is A.

The question is very nicely explained in the video by GMAT Ninja.

Special Parallelism Triggers [https://youtu.be/bXRz0RBLNus][/you-tube]

Dear DmitryFarber GMATGuruNY AjiteshArun GMATNinja MartyTargetTestPrep,

Q1. What's wrong with C.?
C. have disputed NOT ONLY the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess BUT ALSO whether he may not have drunk

IMO, noun "the common notion" is parallel with noun clause "whether he may not..."

Q2. Is "whether OR NOT" always wrong?
I've seen some expert says that the phrase is redundant and incorrect.

@Experts,

Is the official explanation for D correct in terms of the verb tense after "not only" and "but also" must be the same?
I initially thought that the choice is wrong because of the "past perfect" tense.

Some biographers have not only disputed the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also questioned whether he drank at all.

(A) have not only disputed the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also questioned whether he drank
(B) not only have disputed the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also over whether he drank
(C) have disputed not only the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also whether he may not have drunk
(D) not only have disputed the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also questioned whether or not he had drunk
(E) have disputed the common notion not only that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also questioned whether he may not have drunk

Only A has the correct parallelism.

GMATNinja.
Ninja, can you please share your thought here? Many thanks!

Hi experts,

What part of speech is "whether he may not have drunk"? Is option C wrong because the phrase is a clause ?

Thanks

Hey tinbq

Happy to help you with this.

Let's start with choice C:

The words "whether he may not have drunk" is a Dependent Clause. This clause behaves as a noun in answer choice C.

C: Some biographers have disputed not only the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also whether he may not have drunk at all.

Choice C has the structure: Some biographers have disputed not only X but also Y.

Where,

X = the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess
Y = whether he may not have drunk at all

As you can see, both X and Y are objects of the verb "have disputed", and, so, are nouns.


Now, let's look at choice A:

A: Some biographers have not only disputed the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also questioned whether he drank at all.

Choice A has the structure: Some biographers have not only disputed X but also questioned Y.

Where,

X = the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess
Y = whether he drank at all

As you can see, here "whether he drank at all" is also a dependent clause behaving as the noun object of the verb "questioned". So, the error is choice C is not that "whether he may not have drunk" is a clause.


The issue with choice C is the meaning distortion:

• "disputed...whether he may not have drunk at all" means that some biographers believed that Edgar Allan Poe actually drank. This is opposite in meaning to what the original sentence wishes to say. As per the original sentence, some biographers questioned whether he drank at all. That means that some thought he didn't drink at all.

This opposite meaning is the reason why choice C is incorrect.



I hope this answers your questions.

Happy Learning!

Abhishek
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Hi egmat

Thank you for your explaination. I find it more satistfying than the OG's claim that option C is wrong because the clause "whether he may not have drunk" is not parallel to the Noun phrase "the common notion that ...".

Hey tinbq

In the strictest sense of parallelism, yes the two nouns are not parallel. But the GMAT is not that strict about Parallelism, especially of lengthy nouns. We find this in several official questions. This is why it is imperative to let "Meaning Analysis" be your compass while solving SC.

Best,

Abhishek
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