Although the Argentine ant is neither poisonous nor predatory, individual colonies cooperate in a super-colony so large that its collective appetite can become a competitive threat to bird, lizard, and other insect populations.
a) individual colonies cooperate in a super-colony so large that its collective appetite can become a competitive
b) individual colonies cooperate in a super-colony of such size, its collective appetite can become a competing
c) individual colonies cooperate in a super-colony so large as to cause its collective appetite to become a competitive
d) such is the size of the cooperative super-colony comprising individual colonies, its collective appetite can become a competing
e) there is so much size to the individual colonies’ cooperative super-colony that its collective appetite can become a competitive


I can understand why A is correct but why is C wrong... I thought C uses a proper idiom form So X as to Y...

Please explain....

C is much too wordy. A achieves the same result more efficiently.

Rey

Well, option C and A differ by just one word in count of words

Is it not because of the change in the meaning in option C ?

According to me, Option A shows uncertainity and option C removes 'can', therefore slightly changing the original meaning.

Now for my query: Is there anything wrong with option C besides the above mentioned?

thanks,
DCE

yeah, i'm with dce on this one: the meaning of (c) isn't true to the original meaning.
* first, the original sentence doesn't explicitly invoke a causal relationship, whereas (c) does ('so large as to cause...')
* second, and more importantly, (c) expresses a certainty that simply isn't there in the original. the original expresses only the possibility thet the collective appetite can do blah blah blah (note the word can), while (c) allows no room for doubt: the supercolony is so large that the appetite IS a threat. fact!
these 2 changes of meaning are unacceptable, so (a) wins. i don't agree that (c) is wordy.