Bunuel
Drinkers of fresh coffee, according to a Japanese research company, are likely to reduce the risk of contracting oral cancer by 50% and even more than 50%.
A. Drinkers of fresh coffee, according to a Japanese research company, are likely to reduce the risk of contracting oral cancer by 50% and even more than
B. Drinkers of fresh coffee, according to a Japanese research company, is likely to reduce the risk of contracting oral cancer by at least
C. According to a Japanese research company, a drinker of fresh coffee are likely to reduce the risk of contracting oral cancer by at least
D. According to a Japanese research company, fresh coffee drinkers are likely to reduce the risk of contracting oral cancer by at least
E. Drinkers of fresh coffee, according to research done by a Japanese research company, are likely to reduce the risk of contracting oral cancer by at least
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
Drinkers of fresh coffee, according to a Japanese research company, are likely to reduce the risk of contracting oral cancer by 50% and even more than 50%.A. Drinkers of fresh coffee, according to a Japanese research company, are likely to reduce the risk of contracting oral cancer by 50% and even more than
Not quite.
This sentence is illogical because it is not drinkers (people) that reduce the probability of contracting oral cancer but the act of drinking that does so.
In addition, the phrase 50% and even more than 50% is too wordy. Look for a more concise answer choice.B. Drinkers of fresh coffee, according to a Japanese research company, is likely to reduce the risk of contracting oral cancer by at least
No, that's not it.
Although this answer choice is logical and eliminates the original wordiness error by replacing the phrase 50% and even more than 50% with the more concise at least 50%, it is grammatically incorrect.
Drinkers of fresh coffee is an X of Y subject. In such cases, the verb should agree with X (Drinkers), which is plural. However, the verb has is singular.
What helps you identify this question as a Subject Verb Agreement question as well as identify this mistake is the following Stop Sign:
The subject is in the form of X of Y
C. According to a Japanese research company, a drinker of fresh coffee are likely to reduce the risk of contracting oral cancer by at least
Incorrect.
Although this answer choice is logical and eliminates the original wordiness error by replacing the phrase 50% and even more than 50% with the more concise at least 50%, it is grammatically incorrect.
The number noun probability of contracting oral cancer is incorrectly quantified by the quantifier fewer. Fewer should only be used to refer to count nouns.
Look out for the following Stop Sign when dealing with increasing and decreasing quantities and comparisons:
- Count nouns: Use more than/fewer than
- Non-count nouns: Use more than/less than
- Number nouns: Use greater than/less than
D. According to a Japanese research company, fresh coffee drinkers are likely to reduce the risk of contracting oral cancer by at least
This sentence fixes the error in logic created by the phrase drinkers of fresh coffee...are likely to reduce the probability in the original sentence. Since drinkers are not literally reducing their probability of cancer, the original sentence does not make sense.
This answer choice also corrects the wordiness in the phrase 50% and even more than by replacing this phrase with at least.
Finally, the quantifier less is correctly used to quantify the number noun probability of contracting oral cancer.E. Drinkers of fresh coffee, according to research done by a Japanese research company, are likely to reduce the risk of contracting oral cancer by at least
Not really.
This answer choice repeats the logic error present in the original sentence. The sentence is illogical because it is not drinkers (people) that reduce the probability of contracting oral cancer but the act of drinking that does so.
Plus, although this answer choice eliminates the original wordiness error by replacing the phrase 50% and even more than 50% with the more concise at least 50%, it creates additional wordiness by replacing the simple a Japanese research company with the phrase research done by a Japanese research company.