The first decision for most tenants living in a building undergoing

Agree with E Geethu here. When given the alternative, avoid using "if". Pick "whether" instead

unless there is a conditional statement do not use if.

E is good here

A B C eliminated for using being.

In case of an option, we should choose whether. if is used only for conditional statements. For example, if x then y.

There is no such thing as ' avoid if'


If is use in case of conditions with certainties :

If it rains, I will take the cab.

In case of uncertain conditions : use whether

The President didn't know whether his cabinet will support him or not.
(Uncertain condition : Using if is wrong here )

To add more even we can skip the usage of "Or not" in whether statements.
I am unable to recall the exact source, but read somewhere as the usage of "or not" is redundant.

Are there cases where the use of 'being' is accepted on the gmat?

Please go through this post -

https://e-gmat.com/blog/gmat-verbal/sen ... -questions

in GMAT, "if" is used in conditional statements

whether is better in this question

also, in GMAT SC, there is no "whether or not

Hi everyone.
Instead of answer choice (E) is clearly correct, I have a doubt regard the use of WHETHER.

WHETHER should introduce a relative clause (i.e. WHETHER + SUBJECT + VERB), but in this case (I think) is acting as an object.
Could anyone help me to understand this issue?

Thank you in advance!

Regards,
R.

The first decision for most tenants living in a building undergoing … what?

I feel this is the entry point in this question.
You need to figure out what the building is undergoing… Conversion!

There is no need for the passive construction of ‘being converted’ here. We only need a simple noun.

Now let’s scan the options and narrow down our options:

(A) being converted to cooperative ownership is if to sign

(B) being converted to cooperative ownership is whether they should be signing

(C) being converted to cooperative ownership is whether or not they sign

(D) conversion to cooperative ownership is if to sign

(E) conversion to cooperative ownership is whether to sign

Eliminate Options A, B and C.

You see that the split here in these two options is between if/whether.

We know that ‘if’ is a conditional and that ‘whether’ is used when there are two options. What are the two options here? To sign or not to sign.

Eliminate Option D.

Option E is the best choice.

Hope this helps!

The first decision for most tenants living in a building undergoing being converted to cooperative ownership is if to sign a no-buy pledge with the other tenants.


(A) being converted to cooperative ownership is if to sign
—> usually participle “being” is wrong

(B) being converted to cooperative ownership is whether they should be signing
—> usually participle “being” is wrong

(C) being converted to cooperative ownership is whether or not they sign
—> usually participle “being” is wrong

(D) conversion to cooperative ownership is if to sign
—> “the first decision” can’t be the subject of “IF’ clause. Wrong.

(E) conversion to cooperative ownership is whether to sign
—> correct

Here's the official explanation provided by the GMAC for this question:

This sentence fails because of poor word choice: undergoing being converted is as redundant as it is awkward. The process of being converted does not need to be shown since undergoing already contains the idea of process. To complete the sentence grammatically, undergoing should be followed by the noun conversion rather than the phrase being converted. When only two alternatives are possible, to sign or not to sign, whether (or whether or not) is properly used rather than if.

Option A: Being converted is redundant and awkward; if is incorrectly substituted for whether

Option B: Being converted must be replaced by the noun conversion; whether must be followed by the concise infinitive to sign

Option C: Being converted must be replaced by the noun conversion; whether must be followed by the concise infinitive to sign

Option D: Whether should be used in place of if

Option E: Correct. In this sentence, the noun conversion grammatically completes the phrase begun by undergoing, and whether is correctly followed by to sign.

The correct answer is E.

Please note that I'm not the author of this explanation. I'm just posting it here since I believe it can help the community.

The first decision for most tenants living in a building undergoing being converted to cooperative ownership is if to sign a no-buy pledge with the other tenants.

(A) being converted to cooperative ownership is if to sign

If should be used for conditional sentences

(B) being converted to cooperative ownership is whether they should be signing

Signing is present continuous. Sign here would be correct. The decision is not about whether tenants should be SIGNING as if to say this is done continually, but it's about whether tenants should sign (a one off).

(C) being converted to cooperative ownership is whether or not they sign

Whether or not is not idiomatic on the GMAT

(D) conversion to cooperative ownership is if to sign

Same issue as A

(E) conversion to cooperative ownership is whether to sign Correct

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