Ants, by themselves, are weak creatures,

Question

Ants, by themselves, are weak creatures, but  when ants are considered along with others of their species,  they are known for their highly organized and powerful colonies and nests, which sometimes consist of millions of individuals.

A. when ants are considered along with others of their species, 
B. when considering them with others of their species, then 
C. ants, when considered with others of their species, 
D. considering them with others of their species, 
E. considered with others of their species, then

GMATNinjaTwo · Accepted Answer

Ants, by themselves, are weak creatures, but  ants, when considered with others of their species,  they are known for their highly organized and powerful colonies and nests, which sometimes consist of millions of individuals.

eddy8700 , this is what the sentence would look like if we go with choice C. Try removing the "when..." clause and the commas that separate it from the rest of the sentence, and see if that helps!

eddy8700 · Answer

Ants, by themselves, are weak creatures, but when ants are considered along with others of their species, they are known for their highly organized and powerful colonies and nests, which sometimes consist of millions of individuals.

A. when ants are considered along with others of their species, 
B. when considering them with others of their species, then 
C. ants, when considered with others of their species, 
D. considering them with others of their species, 
E. considered with others of their species, then

B ,D and E instant elimination pronoun them and their does not have clear antecedent 
Out of A and C No idea
Experts please comment

techiesam · Answer

Sir,

If we add " when " in the begining of  sentence E ,can it stand as a correct answer then?

GMATNinjaTwo · Answer

techiesam , this is how the sentence would look if we use answer choice E and add "when" to the beginning of the sentence....

When ants, by themselves, are weak creatures, but considered with others of their species, then they are known for their highly organized and powerful colonies and nests, which sometimes consist of millions of individuals.

This sentence still has the pronoun issue pointed out by eddy8700; furthermore, adding "when" to the beginning totally changes the meaning (and makes the sentence very awkward). When are ants known for their highly organized and powerful colonies and nests? ... "when ants are considered along with others of their species", not "when ants are weak creatures...".

techiesam · Answer

GMATNinjaTwo 
I'm sorry that I failed to explain myself. By  adding when in the begining  ,I meant  adding when in the begining of the underlined portion.

Then the sentence would look like this:

Ants, by themselves, are weak creatures, but  when  considered with others of their species, then they are known for their highly organized and powerful colonies and nests, which sometimes consist of millions of individuals.

roadrunner · Answer

Ants, by themselves, are weak creatures, but  when ants are considered along with others of their species,  they are known for their highly organized and powerful colonies and nests, which sometimes consist of millions of individuals.

A. when ants are considered along with others of their species,  Correct 
B. when  considering  them with others of their species,  then  
C.  ants,  when considered with others of their species,  ants,...,they is redundant. 
D.  considering  them with others of their species, 
E. considered with others of their species,  then

GMATNinjaTwo · Answer

Thanks for clarifying,  techiesam ! In that case, we still have the pronoun issue ("their" doesn't have a clear antecedent). Also, using both "when" and "then" changes it to something like a conditional clause. If we wanted to use the conditional, we would use "if-then" not "when-then". Regardless, this sentence makes more sense with a "when" clause (when are ants known for their highly organized and powerful colonies and nests? ... "when ants are considered along with others of their species.") than with an "if-then" clause. So even if we add "when" (or "if") to choice E, choice A is still better.

adityapareshshah · Answer

Hi  GMATNinjaTwo ,

Reason for eliminating C?

Thanks.

GMATNinjaTwo · Answer

Hi,  adityapareshshah . See my earlier post....

Analyzing the sentence without the "when" clause, we get, "... but ants they are known", and there is no need to include the pronoun ("they") immediately after its antecedent ("ants").

louisbharnabas · Answer

Hi  GMATNinjaTwo ,

Could you please let me know the reason for elimination of the other options?

Thanking you in advance.

subrataroy0210 · Answer

A. when ants are considered along with others of their species,

B. when considering them with others of their species, then 
 "then" is redundant. I believe "then" is used for expressing the effect of a cause. But here, there's no cause-and-effect statement. Hence, the use of "then" is wrong.

C. ants, when considered with others of their species, 
 This option will make the "they" in the non-underlined portion redundant.

D. considering them with others of their species, 
 "When" is required. Also, the form "considering" is faulty when used in the sentence.

E. considered with others of their species, then
 "considered" and "then" are faulty.

Nightmare007 · Answer

A seems to be best choice for me . even though I don't want when to be there. as I personally prefer to have when only on occasions used to describe time.

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AjiteshArun · Answer

Because the noun  ants  has no predicate. To elaborate on this  post :

but ants, when considered with others of their species, they are known for their highly organized and powerful colonies and nests

Here the subject of  are known  is  they , leaving  ants  with no verb.

but ants,  when considered with others of their species , they are known for their highly organized and powerful colonies and nests

So option C is effectively saying this:

but ants, they are known for their highly organized and powerful colonies and nests

sayantanc2k · Answer

B. Because of the word "when", "then" is redundant. Moreover the conjunction "when" requires a clause to follow.
D. The present participle modifier "considering them with others of their species" refers to "they" ("ants"). This construction wrongly implies that the ants themselves consider.
E. I guess you do not need explanation why this option is wrong!

abhishekdadarwal2009 · Answer

Ants, by themselves, are weak creatures, but when ants are considered along with others of their species, they are known for their highly organized and powerful colonies and nests, which sometimes consist of millions of individuals.

A. when ants are considered along with others of their species,  
B. when  considering  them with others of their species, then 
C.  ants , when considered with others of their species, 
D.  considering  them with others of their species, 
E.  considered with  others of their species, then

leanhdung · Answer

Ants , by themselves, are weak creatures, but  when ants are considered along with others of their species,  they are known for their highly organized and powerful colonies and nests, which sometimes consist of millions of individuals.

A. when ants are considered along with others of their species,

--> correct

B. when  considering  them with others of their species, then

-->  when  +  then  --> redundant.  considering  seems to modify  ants  -->  ants   considering   ants  --> illogical.

C. ants,  when  considered with others of their species,

--> remove non-essential modifier  when considered with others of their species , we have  ants they are known ... , we have the subject  they  that stands next to its antecedent  ants  --> redudant and illogical.

D. considering them with others of their species,

-->  considering  seems to modify  ants  -->  ants   considering   ants  --> illogical.

E. considered with others of their species, then

-->  comma + conjuntion  ( , but ) requires Subject + Verb --> lack of subject.

Nightmare007 · Answer

Hi,
 i got a doubt. 
isn't them ambiguously referring to Weak Creatures or Ants. 
i Eliminated B D E based on this .
Is my reasoning right / wrong. ?

balaji4799 · Answer

Now I understand it right.
The pronoun ambiguity related to 'them' and 'their' in options B,D and E is they may refer to 'Ants' or 'Weak Creatures'

Taulark1 · Answer

Please an expert reply would be very helpful

Ants, by themselves, are weak creatures,

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Ants, by themselves, are weak creatures,

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