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Madagascar periwinkle

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Madagascar periwinkle

by apuso » Thu Jan 21, 2010 12:55 pm
A substance derived from the Madagascar periwinkle, which has proved useful in decreasing mortality among young leukemia patients, is cultivated in China as part of a program to integrate traditional herbal medicine into a contemporary system of health care.
(A) A substance derived from the Madagascar periwinkle, which has proved useful in decreasing mortality among young leukemia patients,
(B) A derivative, which has proved useful in decreasing mortality among young leukemia patients, of the Madagascar periwinkle,
(C) A Madagascar periwinkle derivative, which has proved useful in decreasing mortality among young leukemia patients,
(D) The Madagascar periwinkle has a derivative which has proved useful in decreasing mortality among young leukemia patients, that
(E) The Madagascar periwinkle, a derivative of which has proved useful in decreasing mortality among young leukemia patients,
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by KapTeacherEli » Thu Jan 21, 2010 9:59 pm
Hi apuso,

On the GMAT, keep your eyes peeled for phrases set off by commas. Phrases set off by commas represent information unnecessary to the sentence; in other words, the sentence must make sense logically and grammatically with that phrase removed.

Here, in the original sentence, if we remove the isolated phrase with 'which' (an extremely dangerous word on the GMAT, by the way), we get "A substance derived from the Madagascar periwinkle is cultivated in China..."

Does this make sense? Well, not really. If it's being derived, it's not really being cultivated. In fact, 'Cultivated' means to grow or keep an animal or plant; it only makes sense describing the animals themselves, not their byproducts.

So, we've spotted the error--its the Periwinkles, not the substance or derivative, which are being cultivated. The only answer that correctly has the noun 'Madagascar periwinkle' as the subject of the verb 'cultivated' is (E).
Eli Meyer
Kaplan GMAT Teacher
Cambridge, MA
www.kaptest.com/gmat

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