Depending on if its infrastructure can hold up the dilapidated buildin

Question

Project SC Butler: Day 71: Sentence Correction (SC1) 
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 Depending on if its infrastructure  can hold up the dilapidated building for another year, the city council may hold a special place in the budget for future repairs instead of immediately giving several million dollars to the mayor, though his arguments were sound.

(A) Depending on if its infrastructure

(B) Depending on if their infrastructure

(C) Depending on whether its infrastructure

(D) Whether it depends on infrastructure, just that it

(E) it's depending that the infrastructure

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GKomoku · Accepted Answer

Let’s start this way, we eliminate (D) and (E) because we need DC or modifier, which precedes IC. To understand intended meaning of the sentence let’s understand the difference between “if” and “whether” , to me it’s essential here. -------- Explanation by KasiaEconomistGMAT--> "If" is used to present Conditionals only. “Whether" is used when there is a choice between two possibilities dealing with the same subject. So If you see "if" in a sentence and there's no condition, you should find an answer choice that uses "whether." Next Mister Mike perfectly explains difference between them --> Hope EducationAisle doesn't mind if I put it here for more detail

If vs. Whether.JPG --------- Once we assimilate all this we came back to our sentence, pronoun "their"-plural (B) doesn't agree in number with "the city council"-singular. Hence (B is out). Moreover we doesn't want "if" here. (B) Depending on if their infrastructure Between (D) and (E) (D) Whether it depends on infrastructure, just that it Whether.JPG (E) it's depending that the infrastructure (this is IC, so 2 IC cinnected with "," single comma, incorrect, "it"-placeholder it's fine, but now sentence has changed its original meaning, we don't have a choice, analternative or a possibility, hence out) We've left with this two, structure is identical, "its"-correctly refers to "the city council" and agrees in number, the only battle is between "if" and "whether" (A) Depending on if its infrastructure (C) Depending on whether its infrastructure Let's see our full sentence with (C) Depending on whether its infrastructure can hold up the dilapidated building for another year, the city council may hold a special place in the budget for future repairs instead of immediately giving several million dollars to the mayor, though his arguments were sound . Opening modifier "depending" modifies "the city council", it's right The city council depends on its infrustructure. "whether" presents the possibility that this infrustructure can hold up the ramshackle building for another year or not. So the city council keep some money for emergency case if this building will collapse. Moreover the city council didn't give any found to the mayor, though his arguments were sound. With all above (C) is the answer sudarshan22 thank you for this question, it challenges and helps me a lot :thumbup:

WIKI18 · Answer

Depending on if its infrastructure can hold up the dilapidated building for another year, the city council may hold a special place in the budget for future repairs instead of immediately giving several million dollars to the mayor, though his arguments were sound.

(A) Depending on  if  its infrastructure  "if" is used for conditional sentences. Since the sentence does not present any condition, eliminate A

(B) Depending on if  their  infrastructure  "their" is plural. We are looking for the singular "its"

(C) Depending on  whether  its infrastructure  "Whether" is correct in this case, since it is used when there are two alternate possibilities

(D) Whether it depends on infrastructure, just that it  Nonsensical clause

(E) it's depending that the infrastructure  Nonsensical clause

Correct answer is  C

anvesh004 · Answer

IMO, Option C.

(A) Depending on if its infrastructure
Need "whether" instead of "If"

(B) Depending on if their infrastructure
Need "whether" instead of "If"

(C) Depending on whether its infrastructure
Uses whether. Uses -ing for modifying City. Sounds good enough.

(D) Whether it depends on infrastructure, just that it
Condition is wrong.
City holding a special place does not depend on infrastructure, but depends on how infrastructure can hold xyz.

(E) it's depending that the infrastructure
Whether is not used for providing any condition. Moreover, it's a little scary

sudarshan22 · Answer

Official Explanation :

The original sentence has an error because  depending on if  is not the correct idiom.  If  should only be used for conditionals; when two options are available, use  whether . Therefore eliminate  (A)  and  (B) .

Choices (D)  and  (E)  are jumbled and force rest of the sentence to be incorrect grammatically.

Choice (C)  contains the correct idiom,  depending on whether . The correct answer is  (C) .

IImbahopeful23II · Answer

I have one query, is the usage of "it's" in the correct answer appropriate? In the sentence "it's" cannot logically refer to the city council and it is probably meant to refer to city, but here city acts as an adjective modifying council. Would be happy if anyone can respond. Thanks in advance.

generis · Answer

vikeshv , from which post are you getting the idea that option C contains the word "it's"? You are correct that it's would be wrong. The correct answer is C. The options are below. I am a little confused.

IImbahopeful23II · Answer

Apologies Generis..I was referring to "its" and not "it's".

hiranmay · Answer

Depending on if its infrastructure can hold up the dilapidated building for another year, the city council may hold a special place in the budget for future repairs instead of immediately giving several million dollars to the mayor, though his arguments were sound.

(A) Depending on  if  its infrastructure --> "Depending on whether" is correct

(B) Depending on  if  their infrastructure --> same as A

(C) Depending on whether its infrastructure ->  correct

(D) Whether it depends on infrastructure,  just that it  --> awkward

(E)  it's depending  that the infrastructure--> awkward

VerbalBot · Answer

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Depending on if its infrastructure can hold up the dilapidated buildin

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Depending on if its infrastructure can hold up the dilapidated buildin

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