aarkay87
Hi
GMATNinjaI am unable to observe any definite error/split in this question. Could you please look into this & share an awesome reasoning/explanation as you always do.
Link:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/since-fanati ... 46304.htmlSince fanatics usually regard themselves as self-less patriots eager to die for their beliefs, fanaticism can rarely be controlled,
however ruthless the countermeasures.
(A) however ruthless the countermeasures
(B) whatever the ruthless there is in the countermeasures
(C) no matter threat the countermeasures are ruthless
(D) in spite of the ruthlessness of the countermeasures
(E) even though there are ruthless countermeasures
Yeah, unfortunately most of the issues here are idiomatic. It's worth noting that if this is indeed an official question*, it's an old and long-retired one -- so I wouldn't worry about it too much. (*If anyone has actually seen this one in a paper test, please let us know and attach a screenshot!)
(D) and (E) are the most interesting (and share a similar issue), so let's start with those. Notice that the non-underlined portion talks about fanatics/fanaticism
in general, not
specific examples of fanatics/fanaticism. But then in (D) we have, "in spite of
the ruthlessness of the countermeasures." This makes it sound like we are referring to some
specific countermeasures that already exist, and that doesn't fit with the non-underlined part.
In (E), we have, "even though
there are ruthless countermeasures" -- again, it sounds like we are talking about specific,
existing countermeasures instead of just countermeasures in the general sense. That doesn't quite fit with the non-underlined portion.
The expression "however ruthless the countermeasures" fixes that issue in (A) -- now it sounds like we are talking about
hypothetical countermeasures (no matter how ruthless you make your countermeasures, you probably won't be able to control whatever fanaticism you are dealing with). (A) suggests that we are talking about countermeasures
in general (not specific, existing countermeasures), and that fits much better with the non-underlined portion.
(B) and (C) are just hot messes:
- "(C) no matter threat the countermeasures are ruthless" - "no matter threat" doesn't make any sense ("no matter THE threat..." would be better). Also, I don't see how "no matter threat" relates to "the countermeasures are ruthless" -- they just look like two separate and nonsensical phrases.
- "(B) whatever the ruthless there is in the countermeasures" - Again, this just doesn't make any sense... "whatever the ruthless there is"?? MAYBE it would be okay if it were, "whatever ruthlessness there is in the countermeasures," but "whatever the ruthless" doesn't work.
Again, even if this is an official question, it's pretty darned old. The GMAT has tried to move away from idioms as decision points, so don't waste too much time on this. And if you do have any other comments/questions about this one, please post them on the
thread for this specific problem.