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Biotechnology companies have invested millions

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Biotechnology companies have invested millions

by BTGmoderatorDC » Sun Jan 14, 2018 4:07 pm
Biotechnology companies have invested millions of dollars into research to attempt
to create the coveted blue rose, which many observers believe would be more
profitable than those previously genetically engineered.

A. into research to attempt to create the coveted blue rose, which many observers
believe would be more profitable than those previously genetically engineered

B. into research for attempting to create a flower many observers believe would
be more profitable than any previous genetically-engineered flower, the blue rose

C. for research for the blue rose, which many observers believe would be more
profitable than any previous genetically-engineered flower.

D. in research for attempting to create the coveted blue rose, which many observers
believe would be more profitable than any that was previously genetically engineered

E. in research to attempt to create the coveted blue rose, which many observers believe
would be more profitable than any previous genetically-engineered flower

What is wrong with other options?

OA E
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by ErikaPrepScholar » Tue Jan 16, 2018 6:24 am
If we know our idioms, we should recognize that we "invest in" something, not "invest into" or "invest for". So we can eliminate down to D and E.

Looking between the two answers, we see that in E, we are comparing the blue rose to "any previous genetically-engineered flower", while in D, we are comparing the blue rose to "any that was previously genetically engineered" ... "any" what? Any blue rose? Any other color rose? The word "flower" doesn't show up anywhere else in the sentence, so "any" can't refer to "flower". This means that E is 1) ambiguous and 2) changes the intended meaning of the sentence. Similarly, the phrase "in research for attempting to create" is less clear and concise than "in research to attempt to create". We can eliminate E and pick D.

If we didn't know the idiom "invest in", we can rule out A, B, and C for other reasons as well. In A, "those" can't refer to "flower", so the meaning is ambiguous and changed. In B, we have "for attempting to create" again in addition to a really strange sentence structure. In C, we are doing research "for the blue rose", not for the purpose of creating the blue rose, which doesn't make any sense.
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