In California, a lack of genetic variation in the Argentine ant has allowed the species to spread widely; due to their being so genetically similar to one another, the ants consider all their fellows to be a close relative and thus do not engage in the kind of fierce inter colony struggles that limits the spread of this species in its native
Argentina.
A. due to their being so genetically similar to one another, the ants consider all their fellows to be a close relative and thus do not engage in the kind of fierce inter colony struggles that limits.
B. Due to its being so genetically similar the ant considers all its fellows to be a close relative and thus does not engage in the kind of fierce inter colony struggles that limit.
C. Because it is so genetically similar, the ant considers all its fellows to be close relatives and thus does not engage in the kind of fierce inter colony struggles that limits.
D. Because they are so genetically similar to one another, the ants consider all their fellows to be close relatives and thus do not engage in the kind of fierce intercolony struggles that limit.
E. Because of being so genetically similar to one another, the ants consider all their fellows to be a close relative and thus do not engage in the kind of fierce intercolony struggles that limits.

OA: D
Could you please explain this further?

Thanks!

Ok let me try...

A - being in active. Hence out.
B - Again Being in active.
C - There is no clear antecedent for "It" - Hence that's out as well.
D - Looks good with they referring to "ants" later in the sentence.
E - Again Being in active so out.

Struggles that Limits- It should read struggles that limit.Subject-Verb disagreement
A,C and E are out

Between B and D,
Due to its being genetically similar..........Err .. To What? Illogical Comparsion. Eliminate B.

D remains.



The answer choice has consider to be which is a suspectful Idiom.Consider XY is most preferred in GMAT land. Infact all of the answer choices have Consider to be.


What is the source of this question?

Yes i missed the below. Good one Gokul.

Struggles that Limits!

I thought the "it" in "Because it is so genetically similar" modifies "ant" [Because it is so genetically similar, the ant considers all its]
Isn't that the case?

Also doesn't the "its" in "the spread of this species in its native" refer to a singular ant??

How does all this add up? Or am I looking at it all wrong?

You are right. "It" is not ambiguous and has a clear referent. Its native also refers to ant's(collective) or species' native.

The problem with "C" is: Struggles that Limits-Subject and verb do not match. Hence C is out.

What would you give more importance to? Sub-verb agreement? or Pronoun agreement?

Subject Verb agreement- Beyond any scope of doubt....

Moreover, pronoun ambiguity is never an absolute rule for negating answers on the GMAT..Some pronoun amibiguousness could also be resolved using logical sense/meaning of the sentence et al...

I think it really depend on the sentence. At times pronouns can be tricky. However, at times you can eliminate 2/3 choices with pronouns very quickly.

@ salman
Check this out : http://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/post40400.html#p40400

Clarity of a sentence can never come over Correctness .

The sentence has to grammatically correct first and this does not depend on anything but grammatical correctness..

Thanks useful post.

is this problem from GMAT PREP?
if so, please provide a screen shot; i haven't seen it before.

@gokul -- "consider to be" is not incorrect; it's just a different variation.
you'll see "consider X Y" in most cases, because it's more concise, but "consider X to be Y" is an equivalent construction. neither is incorrect.

in fact, it's possible to write a construction in which "consider X to be Y" is actually necessary, because "consider X Y" is an ambiguous construction.
here you go:

at the restaurant i tried the "bandeja paisa", considered one of antioquia's staple dishes, and regarded the rest of the menu with fascination.
--> two meanings.
1) i "considered" the dish = thought about trying it;
2) the bandeja paisa is considered to be one of the staple dishes of antioquia.

if i mean to write #2, i can write
at the restaurant i tried the "bandeja paisa", considered to be one of antioquia's staple dishes, and regarded the rest of the menu with fascination
...no more ambiguity.

_________________
Being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquillity [that] religion is powerless to bestow.
C.F. Forbes

The Choice "D" has some ambiguity: its native Argentina (in the non-underlined part) does not match with they.

Can anyone help to explain this question? Thanks in advance!

I interpret this as "they" is referring to "ants" and "its" is referring to "species".

_________________
Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor

Hi Ron,

Can you please explain this question with regard to the use of "because of" and "due to" in each of the options.

How to eliminate the options on the basis of their usage?

Thank you