Season 3——manhattan 50（已点评）

Sophia001

50. 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

解析：
"Whether"is the most concise way to indicate that researchers andtheorists are debating between alternative causes of the pandemic.
(A) CORRECT.  This sentence is correctas written for the reason stated above.
(B)"Whether or not" is redundant; "whether" by itselfindicates the full meaning.
(C)"About whether" is both redundant and awkward.
(D)"As to whether" is both redundant and awkward.
(E)"If" is used to indicate a condition or a future possibility, butthis sentence is not indicating either of these things. "Whether," which introduces a choice or an alternative, is thecorrect usage.

题目点评：
这道题，额，其实我也不是脑子很清楚，好在我找到一个比较能说明问题参考：
A common misconception is that “if” and “whether” can be used interchangeably. However in some sentences using one or the other can subtly change the meaning of the sentence.
I wasn’t sure whether Joe wanted to play tennis or racquetball.
I wasn’t sure if Joe wanted to play tennis or racquetball.
In the first sentence using “whether” indicates the author is unsure which sport Joe wants to play. In the second sentence, using “if” indicates the author is unsure if Joe wants to play a sport at all.
Here are the specific rules governing the usage of these words. Generally “if” is used to describe a condition.
If you go to grocery store, pick me up some root beer and vanilla ice cream.
“Whether” is used to describe a choice.
Whether or not you go to the parade is up to you.
Okay, now what about “whether” versus “whether or not”? Answer: it depends on the context. Most of the time “or not” is unnecessary to the meaning of the sentence. If the meaning is clear without adding the “or not,” leave it out. Remember that concise answers are GMAT-friendly. Only keep the “or not” if it is unclear that there are two possibilities without it.
For the GMAT, here are a few more rules to keep in mind for “if” and “whether”:
1.If you need to imply a choice, the GMAT prefers “whether” (even though the use of “if” may seem grammatically correct).
-Lindsay can’t decide if she should buy the dress.
-Lindsay can’t decide whether she should buy the dress.
Here the GMAT would prefer the second sentence, since two choices are implied: that Lindsay should buy or should not buy the dress.
2. Use “whether” after prepositions (of whether, for whether, about whether, etc.)
3. Use “whether” before verbs in the infinitive form.
-Do you know whether to go out this late is a good idea?
总结到本题就是whether表choice,if表condition.whether比if正式。
关于debate,有n.,vi,和vt.的词性。日常使用中n.用的多一些。如果作为动词，后面跟具体的事物时常用about,on,over等介词，如debate about tax cutting...如果接宾语从句，通常不用介词。因为从句本身表示的是复杂的意思，比如关于某件事的动作，想法，态度等——这些不是一个简单的名词就能表达的概念。而介词通常跟名词或词组。这时候debate通常直接跟从句，如We're just debating what to do next.如果加一个about,“我们正在讨论关于下一步做什么？”显得wordy,而且prep+conj.语法比较罕见啊。

思维点评：
一楼jofre同学，感谢你对我的评价，让我觉得应该更认真些，因为你们比我认真多啦。。。我也是在你们的激励下比以前的自己认真了些。在什么样的情况下用or not，请参见题目点评中的参考资料。
二楼mahaofei同学，参见题目点评
三楼as to和about表达“关于”的意思。请问你看到的debate about how的例子是怎么样的？我没有见到哦。
四楼，debate做动词时跟名词或短语也有用介词的情况。更从句就不一样了。

本次精华帖：
一楼jofre
三楼vanchaser

到这里，我做本季“悬赏令”leader的任务就结束了，虽然短暂，但是觉得和大家在一起讨论学习这种方法对我的思维和能力都有提高，谢谢你们的支持！祝大家在GMAT的旅途中过关斩将，都上700。。。

jofre

选A吧

1. debate whether ...正确，其它debate about whether/debate as to whether应该是错误用法，排除CD选项
2. if表示假设，只有whether能表示是否 ，排除E选项
3. whether or not没必要，排除B选项

另，刚刚去做manhattan51题，发现sophia001只负责上半程，这里想对sophia001同志认真到位的分析表示感谢，对我帮助很大！

mahaofei001

补充一点debate about后不可接动名分词，about在这不作介词。

另求debate的用法……

vanchaser

选A吧。
B选项的whether or not是用于状语从句时使用，而debate后跟的是宾语从句，所以要用whether。
E选项的if在书面语中只能表示如果，而不能表示是否。
D感觉不对，as to感觉不对。
C选项的about，很迷茫，确实不知道。

A感觉没有about也对。 请解答debate about。
查了一下帖子，debate和debate about都有，后接的句子不一样，debate直接跟whether， debate about跟how。

Jimmyzhang2012

选A
debate做名词的时候才有debate about sth
debate做动词就直接加whether

庭草绿

选A
B：whether or not表达wordy
CD：debate 做动词，后面直接加whether
E：if错误

balapupu

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-->R
  B    whether or not-->awkward.
  C    about whether-->awkward.
  D    as to whether-->awkward.
  E    if-->awkward.

南瓜0729

50. 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        --bingo
  B    whether or not--------不简洁
  C    about whether----不简洁
  D    as to whether--  不简洁
  E    if----------意思不对

maxiv

50. 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

1，表选择不能if，E错。
2，whether or not罗嗦，B错
3，debate后面的about和as to都多余，CD错

正解A