prashant0099 wrote:
But why even A is correct as , they is modifying to species ... Its so ambiguous.
I guess it should be
" but when locusts are
placed with others of their species,
locusts become excited, change color, vibrate, and
even hum .
Experts Please help ...
GMATNinjaTwo,
GMATNinja,
broall,
Vyshak,
hazelnut,
generisThanks in advance.
prashant0099 , Just to add a quick thought to
Vyshak 's excellent reply: you may be confusing some modifier rules with pronoun rules.
They cannot refer to
species. Species here is singular.
Modifiers, as often as possible, should modify the nearest entity.
Perhaps you thought
species was a possible antecedent because
species is near
they?
There is no restriction for pronouns regarding placement of pronoun and antecedent.
Pronouns often are far away from antecedent nouns.
The pronoun must have only one logical antecedent.
If exactly one antecedent makes sense, the sentence is correct.
Replace: According to entomologists, single locusts are quiet creatures, but when locusts are placed with others of their species,
they locusts become excited, change color, vibrate, and even hum.
This sentence has exactly one logical antecedent. Correct.
If more than one possible antecedent makes sense, there is pronoun ambiguity.
If no possible antecedents make sense, there is no logical antecedent to the pronoun.
I agree that the rewritten sentence, immediately above, is crystal clear.
That said, how many times do we want to read the word
locust(s)?
The antecedent is not right next to the pronoun. It doesn't matter. As
Vyshak notes,
they refers logically to the subject of the second clause,
locusts.
I am not sure, but you may have confused some modifier rules with pronoun rules.
If so, you have a lot of company. (Many people make this mistake.)
I just wanted the distinction to be clear, either way. Cheers!