The notion that our happiness or our suffering depend upon

Question

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

Please explain your answers.
OA will follow

riskietech · Accepted Answer

Hi,
Let me give a try.
Only diff between B & E is "us" & "ourselves"
The subject of verb "depends" is "our" which is possessive, so its object has to be "ourselves"

Note, only when subject is "we" then we can use object as "us"
Thats why "ourselves" is preferred.

Hope this helps!

gmatprav · Answer

B & E both correct the singular problem that exists in A,C &D. Now

depends upon ourselves - correct
depends on us - correct
depends upon us - incorrect.

B uses the last construct thus is wrong. E wins.

mba · Answer

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 :oops:

)

enigmatic007 · Answer

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

Bhai · Answer

B for best.

The notion  that our happiness or our suffering  depends

Paul · Answer

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 depend s .

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")

srijay007 · Answer

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.

:help2

Paul · Answer

Hmmm, I'm skeptical about this explanation I would still stand by B on this one. These SCs of late are very tricky :madd

dj · Answer

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

ob · Answer

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

lastochka · Answer

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

manan · Answer

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 :roll:

syamee_u · Answer

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

bhatiavai · Answer

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

mashableforce · Answer

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.

srinjoy28 · Answer

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

sehosayho · Answer

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

prasun9 · Answer

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

mikitpatel · Answer

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

The notion that our happiness or our suffering depend upon

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