A major challenge faced by democracies worldwide is to decide

Question

A major challenge faced by democracies worldwide is  to decide if they should penalize the members of social media groups, which  subtly promote racial discrimination.

A. to decide if they should penalize the members of social media groups, which
B. deciding whether to penalize the members of social media groups that
C. deciding whether to penalize social media groups, which
D. to decide whether they should penalize the members of social media groups, which
E. deciding whether they should penalize social media groups to have members that

chetan2u · Accepted Answer

A major challenge faced by democracies worldwide is  to decide if they should penalize the members of social media groups, which  subtly promote racial discrimination.

A. to decide if they should penalize the members of social media groups, which
 IF is for hypothetical situations, so whether is better..
Gerund ' deciding' is better than infinitive ' to decide'
who should be penalized - the members but WHICH refers to media groups.

B. deciding whether to penalize the members of social media groups that
 Correct

C. deciding whether to penalize social media groups, which
 who should be penalized - the members but WHICH refers to media groups.

D. to decide whether they should penalize the members of social media groups, which
 Gerund ' deciding' is better than infinitive ' to decide'
who should be penalized - the members but WHICH refers to media groups.

E. deciding whether they should penalize social media groups to have members that
 who should be penalized - the members but here it is media groups. Illogical meaning.

B

AxiomML · Answer

Why is it better to use the gerund, rather than the infinitive, in this case?

Calmdown · Answer

why to use gerund in particular for the answer choice?

BoundMan · Answer

I feel that we need a necessary modifier -'that' -for this question. Therefore B.
to Decide v/s decision, I am also confused on that point.

rudrasai56 · Answer

",which subtly promote racial discrimination": comma followed by "which" makes the modifier non-essential. Here we are talking about particular groups that promote discrimination. 
Hence "That" should be used in place of which. That eliminates A,C,D.

Answer B is better than E, as it is better clear and concise

skhemani · Answer

A major challenge faced by democracies worldwide is to decide if they should penalize the members of social media groups, which subtly promote racial discrimination.

A. to decide if they should penalize the members of social media groups, which
B. deciding whether to penalize the members of social media groups that
C. deciding whether to penalize social media groups, which
D. to decide whether they should penalize the members of social media groups, which
E. deciding whether they should penalize social media groups to have members that
_____________________________________________________________________________

Can you anyone please explain why "that" in B is correct. I understand that the use of "that" without comma here makes it an essential modifier but can "that" modify living things - members of social media groups in this case. Should it not be "who"?

Gauravvinod92 · Answer

I think " faced" is being used here as a modifier which is modifying challenge and hence " a major challenge.." can't decide decide anything . hence, it doesn't make any sense to use "is deciding".

Regards,
Gaurav

GMATNinja

Mrozhko · Answer

A.  to decide  if they should penalize the members of social media groups, which - 'to decide' doesn't seem to be right here, since it expresses 'intend' rather than the action itself - I believe its a valid reason to eliminate that

B. deciding whether to penalize the members of social media groups that - this one looks right, 'that' is on its place, 'deciding' is correct '-ing' verb, 'weather' and no 'not' placed anywhere randomly, looks alright, let's keep going

C. deciding whether to penalize social media groups, which - this answer choice omits the word ' members ', so it changes the meaning, we not trying to penalize groups, but its members, valid reason for elimination I would say, pals

D.  to decide  whether they should penalize the members of social media groups, which - same as A, ciao

E. deciding whether they should penalize social media groups to have members that - well, it provides correct meaning, same as B, but, it's way too  wordy + passive voice  (ain't reason for elimination), but the redundancy is the reason, so E is out

B - is a champ! It is concise, states clear meaning - good as gold

xingcenliu · Answer

how do you know what is the subject to be penalized???

I think democracies can penalize the social media group but can't penalize the individual members?? Aren't members too small of a subject to be penalized??

ravigupta2912 · Answer

Split 1 - "which" vs "that" -  "that" is a restrictive modifier. It restricts the broader grouping to only a particular grouping, while "which" is non-restrictive and provides additional information.

In this sentence, "which" is incorrect, since that would mean ALL social media groups subtly promote racial discrimination. Not intended. A, C and D gone.

B. deciding whether to penalize the members of social media groups that -- Correct.
E. deciding whether they should penalize social media groups to have members that -- changes the meaning. We are penalising "members" and "social media groups" from having members of a certain variety.

shahriar9 · Answer

Such a beautiful question to use Informative "THAT". "That" or "Which" must come without a comma to show which group is the argument talking about.

Great Question

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

A major challenge faced by democracies worldwide is  to decide if they should penalize the members of social media groups, which  subtly promote racial discrimination.

A. to decide if they should penalize the members of social media groups, which  "if" is a conditional, "whether" should be used when presented with a choice. Also, "to decide" conveys intent to decide, which is not the meaning intended by the sentence. Eliminate.

B. deciding whether to penalize the members of social media groups that  Correct answer.

C. deciding whether to penalize social media groups, which  Comma followed by "which" modifies the entire preceding noun ie; social media groups. This states that (all?) social media groups "subtly promote racial discrimination", which is not the intended meaning. Usage of "that" is better since "that" works as restricting the original set (members of social media groups) into a subset (members who promote racial discrimination). Also, the original sentence talks about punishing "members", not the groups themselves. Eliminate.

D. to decide whether they should penalize the members of social media groups, which  Same errors of using "to decide" as in (A) and "which" as in (C). Eliminate.

E. deciding whether they should penalize social media groups to have members that  The original sentence talks about punishing members of social media groups and not the groups themselves. Eliminate.

Hope this helps.

GDG · Answer

Hi, 
I am still confused between to+infinitive and gerund usage here.

I eliminated A, C and E correctly. Between B and D - I chose B as according to the meaning analyzed the intent is there i.e. to decide.

Could someone please suggest? Thanks!

ac2311 · Answer

Why is the use of "whether" correct and "if" isnt?

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Hi

"Whether" is used to indicate a choice among options. For example:

I don’t know if I should stay home or go out.  This is incorrect since it presents a choice - stay home or go out.  
I don’t know whether I should stay home or go out.  In case of such a choice, we should use "whether".

"If" introduces a condition (if X, then Y). For example:

Give me a call whether you are coming.  This is incorrect. Call me when a condition (you are coming) is satisfied. This is a conditional. 
Give me a call if you are coming.  This is correct as the condition is expressed using "if".

Hope this helps.

singh7 · Answer

Why is gerund preferred here? Why to decide is wrong?

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  singh7 ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb" - "to + decide") is the preferred verb form for referring to the purpose or intent of an action; thus, the use of "to decide" incorrectly modifies the verb "is", illogically implying that a major challenge faced by democracies worldwide exists   for the purpose   of deciding whether to penalize the members of social media groups that subtly promote racial discrimination; the intended meaning is that deciding whether to penalize the members of social media groups that subtly promote racial discrimination   is   a major challenge faced by democracies worldwide.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

VerbalBot · Answer

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A major challenge faced by democracies worldwide is to decide

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A major challenge faced by democracies worldwide is to decide

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