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potential to relieve

by sri_123 » Thu Feb 05, 2009 4:03 am
In large doses, analgesics that work in the brain as antagonists to certain chemicals have caused psychological disturbances in patients, which may limit their potential to relieve severe pain.
(A) which may limit their potential to relieve
(B) which may limit their potential for relieving
(C) which may limit such analgesics’ potential to relieve
(D) an effect that may limit their potential to relieve
(E) an effect that may limit the potential of such analgesics for relieving


Which is the correct answer and why?
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Re: potential to relieve

by piyush_nitt » Thu Feb 05, 2009 1:16 pm
sri_123 wrote:In large doses, analgesics that work in the brain as antagonists to certain chemicals have caused psychological disturbances in patients, which may limit their potential to relieve severe pain.
(A) which may limit their potential to relieve
(B) which may limit their potential for relieving
(C) which may limit such analgesics’ potential to relieve
(D) an effect that may limit their potential to relieve
(E) an effect that may limit the potential of such analgesics for relieving


Which is the correct answer and why?
IMO D

Incorrect reference of Which to Patients .

elminate A, B, C

E wordy and usage of "such"

D looks good ...

OA pls
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by earth@work » Thu Feb 05, 2009 2:10 pm
Main contenders D & E
(D) an effect that may limit their potential to relieve ... their is ambiguous!
(E)an effect that may limit the potential of such analgesics for relieving ... sounds correct (except for - ing in the end) but i still vote for E
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E

by comebackkid » Thu Feb 05, 2009 2:11 pm
The correct answer is unequivocably E. Choices a, b, and c have a misplaced modifier - the patients do not limit the effectiveness.

Choice D has an ambiguous pronoun in "their" as it does not clearly refer to a single antecendent. It can refer to either patients or drugs.

E is correct.
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by casfguy » Thu Feb 05, 2009 3:44 pm
(A) which may limit their potential to relieve
(B) which may limit their potential for relieving
(C) which may limit such analgesics’ potential to relieve
(D) an effect that may limit their potential to relieve
(E) an effect that may limit the potential of such analgesics for relieving
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by nervesofsteel » Fri Feb 06, 2009 12:01 am
E for me too...



In large doses, analgesics that work in the brain as antagonists to certain chemicals have caused psychological disturbances in patients, which may limit their potential to relieve severe pain.
(A) which may limit their potential to relieve <- Wrong use of which
(B) which may limit their potential for relieving<- Wrong use of which
(C) which may limit such analgesics’ potential to relieve<- Wrong use of which
(D) an effect that may limit their potential to relieve <- Pronoun reference
(E) an effect that may limit the potential of such analgesics for relieving<- Correct
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by dgr8onerip » Fri Feb 06, 2009 5:23 am
I think the misplaced modifier does not matter here as we mention which and not who..

IMO- C as it clearly mentions everything
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by raunekk » Fri Feb 06, 2009 10:42 am
imo:E
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by komalk4singh » Fri Feb 06, 2009 10:47 am
The answer is definetely E.

Which and Their usage is ambiguous. It is not clear whether they refer to analgesics or the behavior. E sorts this out and is clear.

I go with E.
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by thestrongest » Sat Feb 07, 2009 12:24 pm
Definite YES for E.

Another reason for this choice is that the correct idiom is the potential for doing and not the potential to do. Hope that is clear.
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by thestrongest » Sat Feb 07, 2009 12:47 pm
Definite YES for E.

Another reason for this choice is that the correct idiom is the potential for doing and not the potential to do. Hope that is clear.
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by Alara533 » Sat Feb 07, 2009 9:29 pm
thestrongest wrote:Definite YES for E.

Another reason for this choice is that the correct idiom is the potential for doing and not the potential to do. Hope that is clear.
Their in D is definitely confusing. But I think the idiom Potential to is also correct.
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by tanviet » Mon Feb 09, 2009 1:38 am
"which " can not refer to "patient" or " disturbance",

in D "their" is wrong

E is correct. this is "summative" sentence pattern
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by logitech » Mon Feb 09, 2009 2:30 am
Guys stay away from the 1000 SC series.
Stacey Koprince wrote:Bad question - don't study it. But do realize that "which" indicates a noun modifier and noun modifiers are required to be placed next to the noun they modify.

"which may limit their potential to relieve" is not referring to patients - it's referring to the phenomenon or effect described earlier in the sentence. That is, this effect is what is limiting the potential to relieve.

That eliminates A, B, and C, but D and E also have grammar problems. So don't study this one overall.
LGTCH
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also struggling with this type of problem

by spikeysam » Tue Feb 10, 2009 5:46 am
I had picked D. I too struggled quite a lot with this problem.

1) But the fact that "their" is closest to the noun "patients... doesn't that make "their" refer to patients though?

2) For antecedent problems, if "their" refers to more than one antecedent, but the logic of the sentence makes it obvious, is it still wrong?

i.e. Before they slept, the men set up the tent for the women to sleep in, but [b]their[/b] beards were too itch for them to sleep.

Here, the word "their" can refer to men / women, but logically women don't have beards and therefore it must refer to men. Would the "their" here still have an antecedent problem?

Any thoughts? Thanks guys!
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