Sentence Correction: Concision

[calvincolton]

To this day, researchers and theorists debate whether bubonic plague caused The Black Death, a pandemic that swept the world in the middle of the fourteenth century.

a) whether
b) whether or not
c) about whether
d) as to whether
e) if

I encountered this problem in a CAT exam, and disagree with the explanation for the correct answer. Can someone provide a better explanation? The correct answer, as stated by Manhattan, is A, whereas I thought the answer would be B. Manhattan's reasoning is that "whether or not" is redundant and theorists are debating between alternative causes. How is it that the alternative causes are implied in this scenario? Wouldn't one have to be listed?

There is no alternative in this sentence however, unless one were to include "or not," thus theorists debate whether the bubonic plague caused The Black Death or DID NOT (whether or not) cause The Black Death. If no alternative is provided explicitly couldn't the alternatives be any of the following three:

a) researchers debate whether the bubonic plague caused The Black Death or simply caused widespread sickness
b) researchers debate whether the bubonic plague caused The Black Death or did not cause The Black Death
c) researchers debate whether the bubonic plague caused The Black Death or H1N1 caused The Black Death

The options being a) the bubonic plague caused the Black Death or the bubonic plague caused another form of sickness, b) the bubonic plague did or did not cause The Black Death, or c) whether the bubonic plague or another form of sickness caused The Black Death. A rebuttal or clarification please.

[jnelson0612]

To this day, researchers and theorists debate whether bubonic plague caused The Black Death, a pandemic that swept the world in the middle of the fourteenth century.

a) whether
b) whether or not
c) about whether
d) as to whether
e) if

I encountered this problem in a CAT exam, and disagree with the explanation for the correct answer. Can someone provide a better explanation? The correct answer, as stated by Manhattan, is A, whereas I thought the answer would be B. Manhattan's reasoning is that "whether or not" is redundant and theorists are debating between alternative causes. How is it that the alternative causes are implied in this scenario? Wouldn't one have to be listed?

There is no alternative in this sentence however, unless one were to include "or not," thus theorists debate whether the bubonic plague caused The Black Death or DID NOT (whether or not) cause The Black Death. If no alternative is provided explicitly couldn't the alternatives be any of the following three:

a) researchers debate whether the bubonic plague caused The Black Death or simply caused widespread sickness
b) researchers debate whether the bubonic plague caused The Black Death or did not cause The Black Death
c) researchers debate whether the bubonic plague caused The Black Death or H1N1 caused The Black Death

The options being a) the bubonic plague caused the Black Death or the bubonic plague caused another form of sickness, b) the bubonic plague did or did not cause The Black Death, or c) whether the bubonic plague or another form of sickness caused The Black Death. A rebuttal or clarification please.

I think you are reading way more into this than is actually in the sentence, and you need to be very, very careful of that tendency.

Yes, the word "whether" implies the "or not". Look at a simple example:

I am wondering whether my cat scratched my dog.
Two cases are implied here:
My cat scratched my dog. OR
My cat did not scratch my dog. (I don't have to use the "or not" because the "whether" indicates that either my cat scratched my dog or she didn't. This is completely binary.)

The GMAT has stated that "whether or not" is redundant and that their preferred way to use "whether" is to just say verb + whether + issue under consideration. Thus, in this case I would say "debate + whether + bubonic plagued caused the Black Death.

Here is another thread about this question: to-this-day-researchers-and-theorists-t14204.html