The coloration of insects can serve as camouflage, as in the case of green insects that spend their lives in or near foliage, or to warn predators, as in the case of insects colored in yellow and black, which often signals that it is poisonous.

(A) or to warn predators, as in the case of insects colored in yellow and black, which often signals that it is poisonous.
(B) or for warning predators, as in the case of insects that have yellow and black coloring, which often signals that it is poisonous.
(C) or as a warning to predators, as in the case of insects bearing a combination of yellow and black, which often signals that they are poisonous.
(D) or as a predator's warning, as in the case of insects that are colored yellow and black, which often signals that they are poisonous.
(E) or to warn predators, as in the case of yellow-and-black insects, which often signals that they are poisonous.


The first verb phrase of the sentence "can serve as camouflage" must be parallel with what follows "or". In the original sentence, however, "can serve as camouflage" and "to warn predators" are not parallel.

(A) This choice is the same as the original sentence.

(B) This choice is incorrect because of it does not remedy the faulty parallelism.

(C) CORRECT. This choice corrects the faulty parallelism by including "as a warning..."

(D) This choice is parallel because it fits the construction "as X or as Y." However, it also contains the incorrect construction "predator's warning" instead of the better "warning to predators" (the warning is to the predators; it doesn't belong to the predators). It also incorrectly uses "which", which should refer only to the previous noun, not to an entire action or clause.

(E) This choice is incorrect because it does not remedy the faulty parallelism.

Hi , I am not convinced with the last part of explanation for D ( use of "which") . Could some one please explain how "which" is referring to an action & if it is , how come it it right in option C .

“Which” must refer to a noun, specifically the noun immediately preceding “which.”

In (C), that noun is “a combination (of yellow and black).” Even though “black” is the last word before the comma, it is the object of a prepositional phrase. The last noun is “combination.” It makes sense that the particular color combination signals a poisonous insect.

In (D), before the “which” we find “insects (that are colored yellow and black).” The noun is insects, modified by a relative clause in parentheses above. Possible interpretations:
(1) “which” modifies the noun “insects” similar to the logic in (C). But that doesn’t make sense: The insect itself is not what signals a poisonous insect.
(2) “which” phrase tells us HOW it is signaled (i.e. insects bear a combination to signal they are poisonous). This is problematic, as “which” can only modify things (telling WHO, WHAT, WHERE), not actions (telling HOW, WHY, WHAT RESULTED).
(3) “which” modifies “black” as it is the closest noun. But that doesn’t make sense: The color black is not what signals a poisonous insect, it is the specific combination of yellow and black that does.

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Emily Sledge
Instructor
ManhattanGMAT

(C) or as a warning to predators, as in the case of insects bearing a combination of yellow and black, which often signals that they are poisonous.

Why is "they" not ambiguous? How it correctly refers to insects, not predators?

because of 3 reasons,
1)pronoun mostly refer to the nearest eligible noun available

2)meaning of the sentence guides us directly to the noun "insects"

further ,looking backward, "they" belongs to "which' clause
"which" belongs to "a combination"
'a combination' belongs to 'insects'
(due to ing- participle)

3)pronoun ambiguity is rarely the make or break point .Gmat is flexible on that part if no other blatant grammar error is visible.

I like your point of pronoun ambiguity. Very true.

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Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor

Logically, the antecedent of pronoun 'they' is 'insects'. But isn't the first eligible noun which can be an antecedent to plural noun 'they' 'yellow and black' in the sentence? The other options are 'predators', 'lives' and 'green insects'. To which noun 'they' refer to is not clear. What's your opinion?

I know that in this question pronoun ambiguity is not too strong a reason to make option C wrong, as all other option are eliminated for one or the other grammatical error. I just want to make sure whether the reference to 'they' in option C is ambiguous or not.

Thanks very much! :)

Option D:

The coloration of insects can serve as camouflage, as in the case of green insects that spend their lives in or near foliage, or as a predator's warning, as in the case of insects that are colored yellow and black, which often signals that they are poisonous.

One of the reasons to eliminate option D:

'insects that are colored yellow and black' incorrectly suggests that insects are colored yellow and black by someone and are not naturally yellow and black in color.

Am I wrong?

Thanks a lot! :)

I would agree with this--why would you want to introduce a "that"? They can be described as "insects colored yellow and black" more concisely and accurately.

_________________
Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor