Some writing questions

Baelor
Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:27:31 +0000

A is incorrect because it is far too wordy, and the “or did not” doesn’t even make sense. “Whether the ancient Egyptians sailed or not” is even too wordy, although passable. C fixes that problem. Plus, A is idiomatically incorrect (again, “or did not” isn’t really common). Perhaps someone can come up with a more complete/“official” explanation.

For the second one, the correct word is “for,” not “in.” It’s just an idiom. It’s not necessary FOR something.