Almost like clones in their similarity to one another, the cheetah spe

The one thing that this sentence glaringly points out is in the non underlined portion where the pronoun used is Plural. So we are to look for a plural subject. The sentence “ Almost like clones in their similarity to one another” should be modifying the species itself and not the homogeneity. However if the sentence just uses species, it is considered as singular. Following this rule, A,B,C, and D are out. That leaves us with a long phrase E, which is clear and concise in meaning.

Hi Shef08,

Correct. With a plural their, we don't want the singular species in option B (we know it is singular because of the is and its after it). We also don't want homogeneity as the subject (options A, C, and D).

Much of the action is in the non-underlined portion of this sentence: “Almost like clones in their similarity to one another...” That phrase includes the plural pronoun “their”, so it needs to be followed by a plural noun that could reasonably be described as “like clones” in terms of their similarity to each other.

With that in mind…


(A) definitely doesn’t work, because “the cheetah species’ homogeneity” is singular, and it’s unreasonable to say that the “homogeneity” is “almost like clones in their similarity to one another.”

So (A) is out.


The trouble here is that “the cheetah species” is singular, and once again, a singular species can’t logically be described as “almost like clones in their similarity to one another.” (And in case you’re wondering: yes, “species” can also be plural, but in this case, it’s followed by “is”, and then “its” refers back to “species” later in the sentence. So “species” is definitely singular in this particular sentence.)

We can eliminate (B), too.


(C) repeats the exact same error as (A): “the homogeneity” is singular, and it’s still totally unreasonable to say that the “homogeneity” is “almost like clones in their similarity to one another.”

That takes care of (C).


(D) rearranges a few things, but the heart of the problem is still completely the same as in (A) and (C): “homogeneity” is singular, and it’s once again unreasonable to say that the “homogeneity” is “almost like clones in their similarity to one another.”

(D) is gone, and I really hope we like (E), or else we’ll be starting over…


Yup, this is fine! “Members” is plural, and it makes sense to say that “members of the cheetah species” are “almost like clones in their similarity to one another.”

“Their” also jumps out at me at the end of the sentence, and that’s fine, too: “their” refers to “members of the cheetah species.”

So (E) is our winner.

Is it possible that “their could refer to clones?

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