Those skeptical of the extent of global warming argue that s

[zarak_khan]

Hi Ron,

Can you please explain how "whether .... or" and "whether.....and" differ?

Thank you!!

[sidjain85]

tutors please help --

is 'divided over' better than 'divided on' ??

[RonPurewal]

Hi Ron,

Can you please explain how "whether .... or" and "whether.....and" differ?

Thank you!!

there's no such thing as "whether ... and ...". you're not parsing that option correctly.

the two parallel elements in the correct answer choice are
whether significant warming will occur
and
what impact it would have

[RonPurewal]

tutors please help --

is 'divided over' better than 'divided on' ??

i'm pretty sure that either of those is acceptable; i don't think that the distinction will be dispositive in an official problem.

[igordudchenko]

Ron,
I cannot understand why option A is incorrect - is it because 'will it have' is not parallel to the first the 'whether significant warming will occur'???

Thanks,
Igor

[RonPurewal]

Ron,
I cannot understand why option A is incorrect - is it because 'will it have' is not parallel to the first the 'whether significant warming will occur'???

Thanks,
Igor

that sort of construction -- in which the helping verb comes before the subject, but the action verb comes afterward -- is used for questions (that actually end with the "?" symbol).

for instance:
You can swim fast. --> statement
I don't know whether you can swim fast. --> expresses uncertainty, but still a statement
Can you swim fast? --> question

etc.
since "whether" can't start a question, this construction doesn't work.

--

(there are other constructions that use this order of words, but they are unrelated to what/whether/who/etc. type question words. for instance, you can write the following:
only in classrooms do people think that memorizing facts is important.)

[raheel11]

Tutors,

Can you pls confirm if the following approach of eliminating option B is correct:

The original sentence states that "whether significant warming will occur " and choice B states that "whether warming that occurs will be significant".

I felt that there was a subtle difference of meaning between the two constructions. Original sentence questions the occurrence of the warming itself (the significance of the warming is not being questioned) while option B questions the the significance of the warming rather than its occurrence. I used this to eliminate choice B but did make the mistake of picking choice A.

I now understand why choice A is incorrect and why E is correct.

Pls advise.

[RonPurewal]

Tutors,

Can you pls confirm if the following approach of eliminating option B is correct:

The original sentence states that "whether significant warming will occur " and choice B states that "whether warming that occurs will be significant".

I felt that there was a subtle difference of meaning between the two constructions. Original sentence questions the occurrence of the warming itself (the significance of the warming is not being questioned) while option B questions the the significance of the warming rather than its occurrence. I used this to eliminate choice B

yes. excellent.

[tkotw79]

Hello,

Is it right to say that questions can also be a part of parallelism (since I have not read about this anywhere)

While deciding between option (E) and Option (B).
I chose Option (E) because i was thinking on the lines of author asking 2 questions and thus trying to look for parallelism by putting a ''?'' at the end of both parts of parallelism

1) whether significant warming will occur ''?'' and
2) what impact it would have ''?''

Please correct me if I am wrong

[RonPurewal]

SC sentences are always statements. Never questions.

I chose Option (E) because i was thinking on the lines of author asking 2 questions and thus trying to look for parallelism by putting a ''?'' at the end of both parts of parallelism

1) whether significant warming will occur ''?'' and
2) what impact it would have ''?''

Please correct me if I am wrong

The sentence doesn't end with "?", so this is wrong. Don't introduce things that aren't there.

[eggpain24]

HI，Ron, just help me confirm my thinking on correct choice E

whether significant warming will occur

will is “indicate mood” → because it has a certain result （occur or not occur”

what impact it would have

would is “subjunctive mood” → not sure about the result （still not happen yet）

Thanks in advance！

[jabgt]

Dear Ron sir,

May I ask why here "what+noun" is not redundant, while it is redundant in the lecture you gave for problem "..investigating what the effects that changes in working conditions would have on workers' performance..." ? I have compared these two problems together but still no clue -- I cannot tell the different contexts that I can use to apply the rules whether "what+noun" is correct. Because of "divided over"?

Or just to be parallel to "whether..."? Without "whether...", is following sentence correct :"The scientific community remains divided on the impact that would have"?

Thank you very very very much!

in general, you won't see "what + noun" (with "what" as adjective) in formal written english, unless it's the start of a question.
in other instances, you should be able to substitute "the + noun".
e.g.,
i want to establish what amount of resources... --> informal / spoken english
i want to establish the amount of resources... --> formal written english

Link here:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... ml#p108984

[RonPurewal]

^^ you raise a good point. this wasn't relevant in the problem you quoted, so, i had no reason to consider it there.

__

here's the difference:

if it's not known whether something will actually exist, then "what+noun" can be used to express that doubt.

by contrast, "the+noun" implies the actual existence of such a noun. (in the problem you quoted, the context involves something that definitely exists. THIS sentence, on the other hand, is about something that may exist, but may not.)

examples:
I want to know what solutions have been proposed.
(...it's possible that NO solutions have been proposed)

I want to know the solutions that have been proposed.
(...there ARE DEFINITELY proposals... I want to see them)

[AlokD492]

I see this question today.
OA is E.
Could you explain more?

ok, well: if choice a actually has the original wording posted at the beginning of this thread ('will it' instead of 'it will'), then it's definitely wrong. 'will it' is only ok in the context of a question ('will it rain tomorrow?'), and can't be used as a noun phrase.

process of elimination:
first, i hope it's clear that we want AND, not OR. according to the context of the problem, the scientific community is divided on both of these issues (you don't get a choice between them), so 'and' makes more sense than 'or'.

that leaves choices b and e.

use PARALLELISM to resolve that dilemma:
choice b uses whether... and the impact in parallel.
choice e uses whether... and what impact... in parallel.
thus, choice e has better parallelism.
(incidentally, the same parallelism issue can also be used to get rid of answers c and d, the ones containing 'or')

hope that helps.

we can justify 'would' here by saying that it's a case of the subjunctive mood, which isn't often used in contexts like this one. they're using 'would' instead of 'will' because the occurrence whose consequences are being considered is hypothetical.

Hello Ron

I beg your pardon to have replied to this old post

But I have a doubt regarding will & would in this sentence.

As the severity of global warming is questioned here, its impact may be treated as hypothetical. Hence would is the correct usage. will it be a good way to eliminate A & D.
C is out for the use of "Divided as"
B is out because the proper question is "what impact it would have"
Hence E is the answer

[RonPurewal]

^^ no... either "will" or "would" is potentially reasonable here. this depends on whether the writer considers these events "unlikely" or "plausibly likely".

e.g.,

if i think Gabriel has a reasonable chance of admission to HBS, I'll write
If Gabriel is admitted to HBS, his wife and children will move to Boston with him.

if i think Gabriel will almost certainly be rejected by HBS, I'll write
If Gabriel were admitted to HBS, his wife and children would move to Boston with him.

we don't know how the writer views the probability of these environmental events, so, you don't have firm grounds for elimination either way.