The destruction of the rain forests means exterminating plants that

Question

The destruction of the rain forests means  exterminating plants that had the potential to cure people of  life-threatening illnesses.

A. exterminating plants that had the potential to cure people of

B. exterminating plants that have the potential to have cured people of

C. the extermination of plants that have the potential to cure people of

D. the extermination of plants that had the potential to cure people from

E. the extermination of plants that might have had the potential to cure people of

This is a  SC Butler Question

Check the links to other Butler Projects: 
 
   Data Sufficiency Butler 
   Problem Solving Butler  
   Critical Reasoning Butler  
   Reading Comprehension Butler  
   Integrated Reasoning Butler

LucienH · Answer

IMO D as it is the only one that uses 'From' instead of 'of'

You are not cured  of  a disease, you are cured  from  it

Aman_Gupta · Answer

please explain how the IMO is C, by the process of elimination.

pranav0198 · Answer

IMO:

A. exterminating plants that had the potential to cure people of -  plants still have the potential. No sense of using past tense here

B. exterminating plants that have the potential to have cured people of-  to have cured is redundant.

C. the extermination of plants that have the potential to cure people of -  Correct. Without any redundancy and tense error.

D. the extermination of plants that had the potential to cure people from-  Same as A.

E. the extermination of plants that might have had the potential to cure people of-  Usage of might and potential together is redundant

DrAnkita91 · Answer

ya even I followed the same step. 
Can anyone throw light on the phrase "cure from and cure of"

anand123prk · Answer

I don’t think there is much to do with the idiom ‘cure from’ vs ‘cure of’. There is a more deterministic error in D in terms of meaning. Choice D says that ‘the extermination of plants that HAD the potential…’. It means that the plants had the potential in the past but they do not have it anymore. This is certainly not the intended meaning. Hope that clarifies.

Bunuel · Answer

VERITAS PREP OFFICIAL SOLUTION:

Whenever you see answer choices using different verb tenses (as you see "had" vs. "have" here), you should look to eliminate verb tenses that would create an illogical timeline. Here, several choices are guilty of such a timeline.

With (A), (D), and (E) note that the past tense "had" suggests that the plants' ability to cure patients ended before the current extermination/destruction takes place. Note the use of "the destruction means..." which set the destruction/extermination in the presence. If the ability of these plants to cure anyone had already ended before the destruction/extermination there is no reason to write this sentence - the plants are a moot point!

Choice (B) is similarly illogical. The phrase "plants that have the potential to have cured" similarly puts the process of curing people further back in the past, which is even more illogical when you see that the plants' possession of that power is current (so they currently have the potential to have previously cured someone?).

Choice (C) matches the current status of the extermination/destruction with the present "have" and is therefore correct.

The destruction of the rain forests means exterminating plants that

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

The destruction of the rain forests means exterminating plants that

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards