Sentence Correction

. 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

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


The given OA is B.

I came down to [spoiler]B & C, and took C[/spoiler]. Remember, 'have bothered' is Simple present tense.

bothered - Simple Past Tense

had bothered - past perfect tense

have bothered - simple present tense because there is no other way to write the verb 'bother' in the above sentence, other than using the 'have'.

All these are tricky questions remember, the GMAT is funny...