Baker was perhaps not the most gifted soloist in the orchestra, but th

Answer : B

Here, 'what' is more appropriate than 'whatever'.

'Whatever' is generally used as an indefinite - i.e., to refer to potential things/events that haven't been realized yet.
“You can get whatever you might need for your project at the drugstore.” >You don't yet know what you need.
“You can get what you need for your project at the drugstore.” >You (and even the speaker) know exactly what you need.
It is logical that 'what he lacked...' is a KNOWN quantity, so 'what' must be used here instead of 'whatever'.
Therefore, C, D, and E are incorrect because of the use of “whatever”.

A: Baker was… not gifted(active voice), but the conductor felt what was lacking in his(passive voice) technical skill was more than made up by the passion with which he played the music.
The sentence opens with active voice and then changes to passive. Hence, incorrect

B: “Baker was… not gifted, but the conductor felt what he lacked(active voice)… was more than made up by the passion with which he played…” B is the best choice.

Hit Kudos

Here 'what' should be used not 'whatever'.
Whatever is used when 'something is indefinite' .so eliminate C,D,E
(A) what was lacking in his technical skill was more than made up by-Eliminate for 'lacking' . Lacked should be used.
(B) what he lacked in technical skill was more than made up by -Correct
(C) whatever was lacking in his technical skill was more than made up by-Eliminate for 'whatever'
(D) whatever he lacked in technical skill was more than made up for by-Eliminate for 'whatever'
(E) whatever he lacked in technical skill he more than made up by -Eliminate for 'whatever'

Bunuel can you please post official explanation for this question or can some one explain why whatever is wrong?
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globaldesi
The difference between what and whatever ---

Harvard admits you on what marks you score in GMAT.
Harvard admits you on whatever marks you score in GMAT.

I hope the difference is clear
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(A) what was lacking in his technical skill was more than made up by -- "lacking" (gerund) -- noun compared with action (passion) -- Eliminate.

(B) what he lacked in technical skill was more than made up by -- Correct answer.

(C) whatever was lacking in his technical skill was more than made up by -- Eliminate. Same as A.

(D) whatever he lacked in technical skill was more than made up for by -- "for by". The "for by" is unnecessarily wordy and not needed. Keep. Eliminated after review of B.

(E) whatever he lacked in technical skill he more than made up by -- "he more". The possessive pronoun "he" is starting another clause and as such this appears a fragment with no FANBOYS connector.

Hi experts, can you please comment on my POE? I'm not too convinced on this one.

I thought the idiom was "made up for", not just "made up"...

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