For those who share space in communal workshops

Question

For those who share space in communal workshops – often called “hacklabs” – to build electronics or crafts,  there are reasons beyond additional space that it might be better not to build or tear things apart at home.

A) there are reasons beyond additional space that it might be better not to build or tear things apart at home.
B) there are reasons beyond additional space that it might be better to not build or tear things apart at home.
C) there are reasons beyond additional space that it might be better to not build or to tear things apart at home.
D) there are reasons beyond additional space that it might be better to not build or not to tear things apart at home.
E) there are reasons beyond additional space that it might not be better to build or to not tear things apart at home

daagh · Accepted Answer

There is only one grammar rule that you have to apply here. An infinitive cannot be intruded by another word i.e ‘not to build’ is ok. ‘To not build’ is called a split infinitive, which is grammatically wrong. Except choice A, all the other four indulge in split infinitives. It is better to go by the grammarians than take the risk of clicking a wrong answer IMO

GMATNinja · Answer

Yeah, the "it" doesn't actually refer to anything. Consider the following:

It is raining.
It is likely that I will eat eight meals today.
It might be wise to eat nine meals today.

These are completely normal sentences, but the "it" doesn't have any referent. And that's perfectly OK, at least in real life. It turns out that some pronouns need referents (jargon alert: these are called "referential pronouns"), but others don't. In my examples, "it" requires no referent.

The same, in theory, is true of the SC question here: "it might be better..." looks an awful lot like the sentences above, right?

Trouble is, I can't think of very many official questions that use "it" in this fashion. I think there are a couple out there (maybe in the GMATPrep?), but they're rare at best. In any event, the most practical takeaway is that the "it" appears (without a referent!) in all five answer choices, so at the very least, it's not an issue here at all.

aditya8062 · Answer

A it is  :  there are reasons beyond additional space that it might be better not to build or tear things apart at home.

JarvisR · Answer

My 2 cents.

For those who share space in communal workshops – often called “hacklabs” – to build electronics or crafts,  there are reasons beyond additional space that it might be better not to build or tear things apart at home.

A) there are reasons beyond additional space that it might be better not 
to build or 
(to)tear things apart at home.
B) there are reasons beyond additional space that it might be better to not 
build or 
(to)tear things apart at home.
C) there are reasons beyond additional space that it might be better to not 
build or 
to tear things apart at home.
D) there are reasons beyond additional space that it might be better to not 
build or 
not to tear things apart at home.
E) there are reasons beyond additional space that it might not 
be better to build or 
to not tear things apart at home

not 
to X or 
(to) Y. 
Correct =>(A)
there are reasons beyond additional space that it might be better not 
to build or 
(to)tear things apart at home.

Nevernevergiveup · Answer

For those who share space in communal workshops – often called “hacklabs” – to build electronics or crafts,  there are reasons beyond additional space that it might be better not to build things or tear things apart at home .

A) there are reasons beyond additional space that it might be better not to build things or tear things apart at home
B) there are reasons beyond additional space that it might be better to not build things or tear things apart at home
C) there are reasons beyond additional space that it might be better to not build things or to tear things apart at home
D) there are reasons beyond additional space that it might be better to not build things or not to tear things apart at home
E) there are reasons beyond additional space that it might not be better to build things or to not tear things apart at home

not to X or Y  is better than  to not  and  to or to not  versions.
choice A clearly stands out.
other options are completely redundant.

JanGMAC · Answer

Would have also chosen A - definitely the most efficient w/o changing the meaning and creating additional redundancy. Only B would come the closes but creates ambiguity w/ the negation IMO.

AR15J · Answer

C) there are reasons beyond additional space that it might be better to not build things or to tear things apart at home 1. It' s meaning is different from the meaning of the original sentence. original meaning-- not to build things -- not to tear things apart Meaning of the choice C-- not to build things but-- to tear things apart 2. As far as I know, this construction makes more sense -- main verb +not+to+infinitive form rather than main verb +to +not+infinitive form Example I don't need to go there or I need not to go there --- both are correct I tend to eat four times a day or I tend not to eat four times a day-- both are correct (https://gmatclub.com/forum/a-scrub-jay- ... ml#p728633) But I tend to not eat four times a day -- incorrect TommyWallach, can you please confirm the second point? Thanks

rakaisraka · Answer

Hi Experts, Whats is the difference between not to build and to not build ?

sayantanc2k · Answer

Both the above usages are logically alright, though some have opinion that an infinitve (to + verb) should not be split, . The usage of the latter is though much rare than that of the former.

BillyZ · Answer

OFFICIAL SOLUTION

Solution: A

Explanation: This problem is a great example of when to use the “ slash and burn ” strategy. The “ beyond additional space ” should be  removed  to simplify the sentence and allow you to see the core structure: “ there are reasons that it might be better not to build or tear things apart at home ” Also, the negation is confusing so read it without that: “ there are reasons that it might be better to build or tear things apart at home .” The original sentence, read like that, is clearly correct and indeed (A) is the correct answer. However the negation and the choices that follow in (B) through (E) are very confusing. Consider two simple examples: “there are several reasons not to run the race” and “there are several reasons to not run the race”. Grammarians drastically prefer the first but both are considered “grammatical” so you cannot decide alone on that. In this sentence, however, there are two infinitives, which require parallel construction. Also, things change if you put the “not” between the “to” and the “build”, as it no longer carries to both infinitives because only the “to” is understood in the second part: in the original it is not to x….or (to) y. As a result (B) should be read like this and is clearly wrong: “might be better to not build or (to) tear things apart…” This seems to indicate two things “to not build” (what we don’t know) or “to (affirmatively) tear things apart at home. (C) perpetuates that error, making it even worse by inserting the “to” to REALLY clarify the lack of negation in the second infinitive. (D) is clearly not parallel with the different locations of “not” with each infinitive and (E) is even worse with the illogical placement of the “not” twice. Answer is (A).

GMATNinja , What is the pronoun it referring to? Does it refer to “hacklabs”?

GMATNinja · Answer

And here's an example of an official GMAT question that (correctly) uses a non-referential pronoun: https://gmatclub.com/forum/though-the-a ... 49076.html

sid0791 · Answer

Hi Experts,

Wouldn't 'not' and 'or', should create parallel sentences.
In A, if it would have been 'not to build or to tear', then it should have made perfect sense.

In the current scenario 'not to build or tear', there should be a parallelism issue?

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For those who share space in communal workshops

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