Critics of the trend toward privately operated prisons consider correc

Question

Critics of the trend toward privately operated prisons consider corrections facilities  to be an integral part of the criminal justice system and question if  profits should be made from incarceration.

(A) to be an integral part of the criminal justice system and question if
(B) as an integral part of the criminal justice system and they question if
(C) as being an integral part of the criminal justice system and question whether
(D) an integral part of the criminal justice system and question whether
(E) are an integral part of the criminal justice system, and they question whether

When  consider  means “regard as,” as it does in this sentence, its object should be followed immediately by the phrase that identifies or describes that object. Thus,  to be  in A,  as  in B, and  as being  in C produce unidiomatic constructions in the context of the sentence.

Also, although  if  and  whether  can be used interchangeably after some verbs, question  if , which appears in A and B, is unidiomatic, and    they    in B is unnecessary.

E also contains the unnecessary    they   , and it uses the ungrammatical construction  consider… facilities are .

Grammatically and idiomatically, sound D is the best choice.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Accepted Answer

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):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VARhmMp4gY

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk7lx0ndSeA

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2w9FNmjwtw

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

rhoeta · Answer

Go with D.

IF is wrong since there is a choice. IF is used for hypothetical. 
Skipped BEING -is always wrong for GMAT. E is wrong because of a pronoun issue.

Beyond700 · Answer

Consider X Y and usage of whether ... therefore 'D'

ashkrs · Answer

Consider to be and Consider as - Both are no no in gmat . 
E is awkward .

D stands.

walker · Answer

Thanks guys! indeed "Consider to be" is out I've found it in the net: https://gmat-grammar.blogspot.com/2006/0 ... dioms.html

mrsmarthi · Answer

Ans is D.

This SC is testing the idiom - Consider X Y

‘Consider X as Y’ or Consider ‘X to be Y’ or ‘Consider X are Y’ are NOT the correct usages.

Also GMAT prefers WHETHER over IF when ever a sentence indicates a condition.

As a side note, you are posting the questions in wrong forum. Please post the SC related questions in SC forum.

jeeteshsingh · Answer

Walker... as per me.. the deciding factor could be the usage of 'if' and 'whether'. When ever we try to compare two things, I guess we should use 'whether'. The question here actually does.... whether X ... (or Y part has been left out)

Hence we need to choose among C,D,E.... and among them, D is the best... C is out for the being word.. and E introduces a pronoun they which isnt necessary at all!

MHIKER · Answer

Critics of the trend toward privately operated prisons consider corrections facilities t o be an integral part of the criminal justice system and question  if profits should be made from incarceration.
(A)  to be  an integral part of the criminal justice system and question if
(B) as an integral part of the criminal justice system and  they  question if
(C)  as being  an integral part of the criminal justice system and question whether
(D) an integral part of the criminal justice system and question whether    
(E)  are  an integral part of the criminal justice system, and  they  question whether

gmatway · Answer

Clearly consider is followed by below format consider xy
So we are left with option d and e in option e they is ambiguous. Hence option d is the answer.

Posted from my mobile device

mba757 · Answer

Experts, hello!

Within answer choices B and E, is the "they" either (1) ambiguous or (2) break parallelism? I don't think it's ambiguous because neither of the other plural nouns (prisons nor facilities) could question anything, so it would have to be "critics." So would the "they" break parallelism? Or is there something I'm missing?

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Hi Sam

In both options (B) and (E), there is an error in the idiomatic usage of "consider". The correct usage is "consider X Y" and not "consider X as Y" (as used in option B) or "consider X are Y" (as used in option E). Therefore, both these options are ruled out.

You are correct that "they" can only possibly refer to critics in these options. However, that being the case, since "critics" are already mentioned earlier, there is no need to use a pronoun "they" to refer to them again. As such, ambiguous antecedent is a very dicey issue on which to rule an option out. We have other errors in both these options because of which we can eliminate them.

Hope this clarifies.

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  samgyupsal ,  they  is  not  breaking parallelism in B & E.

For example, in B, parallelism is between the following two  Independent clauses :

i) Critics of the trend toward privately operated prisons consider corrections facilities as an integral part of the criminal justice system

and

ii) they question if profits should be made from incarceration.

Of course, this option is incorrect because of incorrect  idiomatic usage  (consider   as  ) and faulty use of  if .

mba757 · Answer

Isn't the parallelism in B incorrect because it's not following the proper parallelism? In D the parallelism would start here: "Critics of the trend toward privately operated prisons (1) consider corrections facilities an integral part of the criminal justice system and (2) question whether profits should be made from incarceration."

B doesn't follow this structure. So thus it breaks the intended parallelism.

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  samgyupsal , both the sentences below are correct from parallelism perspective:

i) Peter goes to college and he also goes to sports-academy.
- Parallelism is between two  clauses :   Peter goes to college   and   he also goes to sports-academy  .

ii) Peter goes to college and also goes to sports-academy.
- Parallelism is between two  verbs : Peter   goes  to college  and  also  goes  to sports-academy.

mba757 · Answer

Okay, I see. They say the same thing, but they are said in different ways! Is one inferior to the other? Or are they equal, keeping all else constant?

EducationAisle · Answer

Yes, they are equal. I would definitely not suggest that you choose one over the other (in any case, GMAT would never present you with these two choices).

Hovkial · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

When consider means “regard as,” as it does in this sentence, its object should be followed immediately by the phrase that identifies or describes that object. Thus, to be in A, as in B, and as being in C produce unidiomatic constructions in the context of the sentence.

Also, although if and whether can be used interchangeably after some verbs, question if, which appears in A and B, is unidiomatic, and they in B is unnecessary.

E also contains the unnecessary they, and it uses the ungrammatical construction consider… facilities are.

Grammatically and idiomatically, sound D is the best choice.

Solenja · Answer

I'm trying to perfect my sc accuracy, so here it goes (my take can be inaccurate too so please don't take this as ultimate answer)
Option A: can be eliminated on the basis of redundancy

Option B&E : can be eliminated on the basis of ambiguity ("they" word)

Option C: can be eliminated as it talks as if the current sentence is happening as we speak.(little doubt about this)
 
that leaves us to option D which is free of all the above, not the perfect one but better compared to the rest.(Any suggestions would be appreciable)

Thank you!

VerbalBot · Answer

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Critics of the trend toward privately operated prisons consider correc

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