Balzac

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Balzac

by sumittaneja009 » Wed Nov 26, 2008 3:07 am
Balzac drank more than fifty cups of coffee a day and died of caffeine poisoning; furthermore, caffeine did not seem to bother Samuel Johnson, the great writer and lexicographer, who was reported to have drunk twenty-five cups of tea at one sitting.
(A) furthermore, caffeine did not seem to bother
(B) however, caffeine did not seem to bother
(C) however, caffeine did not seem to have bothered
(D) furthermore, caffeine did not seem to have bothered
(E) in addition, caffeine did not seem to bother

OA is B

Please help me understand.

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Re: Balzac

by iamcste » Wed Nov 26, 2008 3:33 am
sumittaneja009 wrote:Balzac drank more than fifty cups of coffee a day and died of caffeine poisoning; furthermore, caffeine did not seem to bother Samuel Johnson, the great writer and lexicographer, who was reported to have drunk twenty-five cups of tea at one sitting.
(A) furthermore, caffeine did not seem to bother
(B) however, caffeine did not seem to bother
(C) however, caffeine did not seem to have bothered
(D) furthermore, caffeine did not seem to have bothered
(E) in addition, caffeine did not seem to bother

OA is B

Please help me understand.
IMO B

"Further more" and " in additon" express additonal information and not main information of the sentence. Indpendent clause of Samuel Johnson is an important and key information and not any kind of additonal information as without this information, sentence would be incomplete and would not express the contrast needed

"However" expresses the right contrast. caffeine affected one while not the other

"to have bothered" is quite awkward due to present perfect tense ( Is Samuel Johnson still drinking caffine)

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by mals24 » Wed Nov 26, 2008 5:50 am
caffeine did not seem to bother Samuel Johnson, the great writer and lexicographer, who was reported to have drunk twenty-five cups of tea at one sitting.
iamcste can you explain why to have drunk is used here.

I chose C because I thought 'seem to have bothered' was parallel with 'to have drunk'. Can you elaborate on this.

Thanks :)

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by karmayogi » Wed Nov 26, 2008 6:09 am
I was also confused between B & C. Finally, I selected by and following was my reasoning:

(B) seem to bother - It's telling a fact that caffeine doesn't bother Samuel.
(C) seem to have bothered - It's telling a incident that started in past and finished recently.

Obviously B makes more sense.
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