In California, a lack of genetic variation in the Argentine ant has

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Let's take a closer look at this question to figure out the best course of action! First, here is the original question with the major differences between the options highlighted in orange:

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 intercolony 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 intercolony 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 intercolony struggles that limit
(C) because it is so genetically similar, the ant considers all its fellows to be a close relative and thus does not engage in the kind of fierce intercolony 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

After a quick glance over the options, a few key differences jump out:

1. due to their being / due to its being / because it is / because they are / because of being
2. a close relative / close relatives
3. that limit / that limits

Since all of the options for #1 are different, it will be hard to eliminate more than one at a time. With options 2 & 3, we can eliminate several at once, so let's start with one of these. We'll start with #3 on our list (limit/limits) because it's an issue of subject-verb agreement, which should be pretty easy to handle quickly.

To determine which verb we need, we must first figure out what this verb is referring to. What is causing the spread of the species to be limited? The intercolony struggles. Since "struggles" is a plural word, we now know that we need a plural verb to go with it. Let's see how each option breaks down:

(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 intercolony 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 intercolony struggles that limit
(C) because it is so genetically similar, the ant considers all its fellows to be a close relative and thus does not engage in the kind of fierce intercolony 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

We can eliminate options A, C, and E because they use the singular "limits" with a plural subject "struggles."

See - that was quick! Now we're only left with 2 options, so let's move on to #2 on our list: a close relative / close relatives. The key here is to look for the words "all of" or "each of" to figure out which one we need here:

consider all of X to be Y = plural noun for Y (I consider all of my friends to be brothers.)
consider each of X to be Y = singular noun for Y (I consider each of my sisters to be a friend.)

(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 intercolony struggles that limit

This is INCORRECT because the idiom structure doesn't agree in number. Whenever we refer to "all of" something, we need to use a plural to match. In this case, it uses the singular "a close relative," which is singular.

(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

This is CORRECT! It uses the proper subject-verb agreement with "limit," and the use of the plural "relatives" agrees with the plural "all their fellows."

There you have it - option D is the correct choice! If you were to tackle #1 on our list first, it would have taken much longer to narrow down your options. Finding the "either this or that" problems will help you eliminate 2-3 options at once, which is much faster!


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