fluke wrote:
The recent discovery of a red oak tree sap that is anticipated to advance experimentation with natural substances in order to create cancer medicines will be able to provide chemists with a more potent mixture to work from than other trees and at a lower cost.
(A) The recent discovery of a red oak tree sap that is anticipated to advance experimentation with natural substances in order to create cancer medicines will be able to provide chemists with a more potent mixture to work from than other trees and at a lower cost
(B) The recent discovery of a red oak tree sap is anticipated to advance experimentation with natural substances in order to create cancer medicines and will be able to provide chemists with a more potent mixture to work from at a lower cost than the sap extracted from other trees
(C) The recent discovery of a red oak tree sap, which is anticipated to advance experimentation with natural substances in order to create cancer medicines, will be able to provide chemists with a more potent mixture to work from at a lower cost than other trees
(D) A recently discovered red oak tree sap, which is anticipated to advance experimentation with natural substances in order to create cancer medicines, will be able to provide chemists with a more potent mixture to work from than the sap extracted from other trees can, and at a lower cost
(E) A recently discovered red oak tree sap, which is anticipated to advance experimentation with natural substances in order to create cancer medicines, will be able to provide a more potent mixture to work from than other trees and to decrease the cost
(A) The recent discovery of a red oak tree sap that is anticipated to advance experimentation with natural substances in order to create cancer medicines will be able to provide chemists with a more potent mixture to work from than other trees and at a lower cost
(B) The recent discovery of a red oak tree sap is anticipated to advance experimentation with natural substances in order to create cancer medicines and will be able to provide chemists with a more potent mixture to work from at a lower cost than the sap extracted from other trees
(C) The recent discovery of a red oak tree sap, which is anticipated to advance experimentation with natural substances in order to create cancer medicines, will be able to provide chemists with a more potent mixture to work from at a lower cost than other trees
(D) A recently discovered red oak tree sap, which is anticipated to advance experimentation with natural substances in order to create cancer medicines, will be able to provide chemists with a more potent mixture to work from than the sap extracted from other trees can, and at a lower cost
(E) A recently discovered red oak tree sap, which is anticipated to advance experimentation with natural substances in order to create cancer medicines, will be able to provide a more potent mixture to work from than other trees and to decrease the cost
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:
The original sentence is long and confusing. In order to simplify the sentence, let's figure out what it is trying to say: The main verb of the sentence is will be able. The subject appears to be The recent discovery of a red oak tree sap, but it is not logical that The recent discovery of sap... will be able to provide chemists with a more potent mixture because discoveries don't provide mixtures. What provides the mixture? The logical subject of the sentence is sap; we should look for the answer that places sap at the beginning of the sentence.
The comparison more...than does not compare likeor parallelitems; will be able to provide chemists with a more potent mixture to work from than other trees illogically compares the ability to provide chemists with a more potent mixture and other trees. Mixtures cannot be more potent than trees; it is the abilities of the mixtures and the abilities of the saps from other trees that are being compared.
Choice D is correct. This choice changes the subject to A recently discovered red oak tree sap, which is the logical subject of the verb will be able to provide. This option also compares the ability of the recently discovered sap to provide chemists with a more potent mixture with the ability of the sap extracted from other trees by using the word can.
Choices B and C retain the incorrect subject, The recent discovery of a sap, which illogically seems to be able to provide chemists with a more potent mixture. These options also retain comparison errors. In B, the new trees are able to provide chemists with a more potent mixture....than other saps, and we want to compare the abilities of the saps. C makes the comparison to other trees. Both B and C are incorrect.
Choice E fixes the subject error but not the comparison error; the more potent mixture than other trees is illogical .
Choice D is correct.