The mountain climber’s decision to abandon his friend on the slope

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION



THE PROMPT



THE OPTIONS

• I see no errors
The sentence is clear and concise. Definitely a keeper.
KEEP

• Phrasing/idiom problems
→ from should be by
A decision from a person is not standard or idiomatic.
We can be told about a decision [made] by a person that led him to do XYZ.
Although I do not recall having seen official questions with phrasing similar to "decision OF the mountain climber that led him to do XYZ," I will not rule out the possibility.
→ that led to him abandoning is a wordy way to say "to abandon"

We already have a good answer in option A.
When we compare (B) to (A), we find that (A) suffers from none of the issues in (B) and is better than (B).
If we had not yet seen (A), we would tentatively keep this option and look for a better answer.
Why?
No true grammar errors exist in this option.
We should save diction and style decisions until the end.
If you cannot decide within a 5 second time frame that (A) is better than (B), then keep (B) tentatively and move on.

But (voila!) we have indeed decided in 3 seconds that (A) is better than (B).
ELIMINATE B


• meaning issues
In order to get help, the healthy climber decided to abandon his friend [to leave the friend] on the slope.
The climber did not decide, while standing on the slope, to abandon his friend.
That is, the healthy climber did not stand on the slope and then decide to abandon his friend, though this sentence incorrectly suggests as much.

• phrasing/idiom problems
→ decision . . . of abandoning should be decision . . . to abandon, as is the case in option A
→ If we use to abandon

→ a decision is made by a person to do something, not of doing something
Prepositions are hard. Don't get discouraged. Typically, prepositions are the last thing that a non-native speaker of English conquers.

• Flabby words!
→ would be life-changing for both men (C) is not as good as would change the lives of both men (A)
-- The adjective phrase would be life-changing for is not as strong as the verb phrase would change the lives of.
-- would be is a "linking" verb whose subject complement is the adjective "life-changing."
-- almost always, when we are describing an active event, a verb phrase will be clearer and crisper than a linking verb + adjective.
As I have mentioned, strong verbs drive well-written English prose.

Compare (C) to (A). No contest. (A) wins.
ELIMINATE C


• idiom error
-- decision of abandoning is just all kinds of wrong, especially when compared to decision TO abandon (A)
ELIMINATE D

• Meaning is nonsensical
The climber who left was not looking for help [that was] on the slope.
In fact, he needed to get down and off the slope to find help.
This sentence implies that the mountain climber went to find help on the slope and did not abandon his friend there.
"On the slope" should modify "to abandon his friend," not "to find help."
ELIMINATE E

The best answer is A.

COMMENTS

I am happy to see familiar faces.

I am also happy to see that you all were undeterred by the fact that no serious grammar errors exist in these options.
You all took slightly different paths, but each path involved analysis of meaning, phrasing, and logic.

The most important part of solving this question comes from comparing answers to correct answer (A).

A couple of you were explicit about doing this comparison.

When you can comfortably compare options and decide which is better and which is worse, you are well on your way.

Kudos go to correct answers with good explanations.