The notion that our happiness or our suffering depend upon

IMO (D) is best (Though I strongly doubt that )
I think "based on" is the correct idiom.
Also we need plural for suffering, so depend is ok.
We need us and not ourselves.

Anybody else who would like to argue against the said opinion!!!
(I know many of you will think, this guy needs to do more practice with SC and may be you r right )

hi my ans wud ...

B...

first and foremost... either and or give only a singular flow...

hence we need ''depends'' that helsp us eliminate C ( which is special as it goes sufferings and depend) A n D...
as regards C we don have to change the original part as it goes ...
between B and e...

b IS THE BETTER PICK...

''we depend on ourselves''

''some thing else depends on US'

so her X and Y depend upon US...

hope th was clear...

Have fun

B for best.

The notion that our happiness or our suffering depends

I'd go with B on this one. This has to do with use of reflexive pronoun. As said by enigmatic, A, C and D can be eliminated because they should be singular. It is either happiness or suffering which depends.

B and E are more tricky. Use of reflexive pronoun, as Enigmatic pointed out, needs a person to which that pronoun can reflect:
Ex: I have completed the homework by myself. "myself" has pronoun "I" to which the action of "completing" is reflected.
Ex: The homework has been completed by me. There is no pronoun/person to which the action can be reflected. Hence, you use the subjective form "me"

The original sentence does not have any pronoun/person to which "ourselves" is reflected upon. Hence, use "us". Whenever possible, although it may not sound grammatically wrong, don't overabuse the use of reflexive pronouns (ending in "self")

I also picked B

However OA is E

Their explanation:
in the context of this sentence, the reflexive pronoun 'ourselves' is preferable to the objective pronoun 'us', since the meaning of the verb 'depends' reflects back to us

I am still not convinced with this explanation.

Hmmm, I'm skeptical about this explanation

I would still stand by B on this one. These SCs of late are very tricky

I don't think that is the reason. We prefer "oneself" when refer to "one". similarly "ourselves" when refer to "our".

weird...i know

I prefer E since it is understood who the pronoun refers back to.

I also picked e out of the box, OB's reasoning are similar to mine

I will stand by (B)

We motivate ourselves to take the GMAT but the final outcome does not depend on us

I don't know if the example is ok

in the first instance (less than 30 seconds) i have chosen E. but after reading i want some explanation about better forms.

ourselves / us and some examples..

can any body provide them.

syamee

What is wrong with option c ?
How does one decide whether sufferings or suffering should be used ?

IMO the answer is E.

"our happiness or our suffering" should be followed by "depends" (singular), therefore, A, C, and D are out. Between B and E, I went with E only because it sounds better.

I went with option B.....Expert's please clarify.....Thanks in advance...

A or B is
As or B is
A or Bs are
The main verb refers to B.
So here depends.

I think the confusion is between B and E, rest of the options have Subject-Verb agreement issue.
The only difference between B and E is the use of "us" vs "ourselves". Now words such as ourselves, himself, myself and itself are called reflexive pronouns. These words are used if the object(s) and the subject(s) refer to the same person(s) or thing(s). For example

I can only blame me for my failures. - Incorrect
I can only blame myself for my failures. - Correct

The notion that our happiness or our suffering depend upon ourselves is not always true.
(A) our suffering depend upon ourselves
(B) our suffering depends upon us
(C) our sufferings depend upon ourselves
(D) our suffering depend on us
(E) our suffering depends upon ourselves


has to be suffering and not sufferings as it talking about suffering irrespective of the cause. C out
"suffering depends" is right. A and D out
"upon ourselves" is right. E is correct