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555-605 Level|   Grammatical/Rhetorical Construction|   Pronouns|                        
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thakurarun85
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In California, a lack of genetic variation in the Argentine ant has 24 Sep 2021, 02:56
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EMPOWERgmatVerbal
Hello Everyone!

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!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.
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If D is correct how come "They" refer back to "Argentine ant" which is singular?
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In California, a lack of genetic variation in the Argentine ant has 24 Sep 2021, 04:01
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thakurarun85
If D is correct how come "They" refer back to "Argentine ant" which is singular?
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Hi Arun, in D, "they" is not referring to "Argentine ant", but to "ants".

....because they are so genetically similar to one another, the ants consider....

Generally speaking, whenever a pronoun ("they" here) appears as part of introductory modifier ("because they are so genetically similar to one another" here), the pronoun refers to the noun ("the ants" here) immediately after the introductory modifier.

For example:

Because he is preparing for GMAT, Arun is on GMATClub.

Again, he refers to Arun.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses this aspect of "Introductory modifiers". Have attached the corresponding section of the book, for your reference.
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Intro modifiers.pdf [16.63 KiB]
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In California, a lack of genetic variation in the Argentine ant has 26 Sep 2021, 21:40
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HI GMATNinja egmat

I've one doubt
Kind of fierce intercolony struggles that limits
I know that "that" normally refers to the immediate noun before it but here "kind of" is acting as a preposition phrase so shouldn't kind(singular) should refer to limits
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In California, a lack of genetic variation in the Argentine ant has 28 Sep 2021, 08:26
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sarthakaggarwal
HI GMATNinja egmat

I've one doubt
Kind of fierce intercolony struggles that limits
I know that "that" normally refers to the immediate noun before it but here "kind of" is acting as a preposition phrase so shouldn't kind(singular) should refer to limits
Show more
When you're evaluating a "that" or a "which" modifier, all you're asking yourself is whether there's a reasonably close noun or noun phrase that the modifier could be logically describing. If there is, don't treat it as an error. It's that simple.

In (D), we see the following phrase:

Quote:
the kind of fierce intercolony struggles that limit the spread of this species in its native Argentina.
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Here, the closest eligible noun, "struggles" makes perfect sense. What's limiting the spread of this species? A certain type of "struggles." That works. (Note, again: even if "that" weren't touching "struggles," the construction could be acceptable, so long as the two were reasonably close.)

At this point, you'd conclude the "that" is fine in this option and move on to other issues.

I hope that clears things up!
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In California, a lack of genetic variation in the Argentine ant has 28 Sep 2021, 11:25
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HI GMATNinja egmat

I've one doubt
Kind of fierce intercolony struggles that limits
I know that "that" normally refers to the immediate noun before it but here "kind of" is acting as a preposition phrase so shouldn't kind(singular) should refer to limits
When you're evaluating a "that" or a "which" modifier, all you're asking yourself is whether there's a reasonably close noun or noun phrase that the modifier could be logically describing. If there is, don't treat it as an error. It's that simple.

In (D), we see the following phrase:

Quote:
the kind of fierce intercolony struggles that limit the spread of this species in its native Argentina.
Here, the closest eligible noun, "struggles" makes perfect sense. What's limiting the spread of this species? A certain type of "struggles." That works. (Note, again: even if "that" weren't touching "struggles," the construction could be acceptable, so long as the two were reasonably close.)

At this point, you'd conclude the "that" is fine in this option and move on to other issues.

I hope that clears things up!
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Thank you so much for the reply
So basically you are saying that since "struggles" make perfect sense with "limit the spread" and its closest to "that" , so that will modify struggles and not kind of
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In California, a lack of genetic variation in the Argentine ant has 29 Sep 2021, 13:21
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HI GMATNinja egmat

I've one doubt
Kind of fierce intercolony struggles that limits
I know that "that" normally refers to the immediate noun before it but here "kind of" is acting as a preposition phrase so shouldn't kind(singular) should refer to limits
When you're evaluating a "that" or a "which" modifier, all you're asking yourself is whether there's a reasonably close noun or noun phrase that the modifier could be logically describing. If there is, don't treat it as an error. It's that simple.

In (D), we see the following phrase:

Quote:
the kind of fierce intercolony struggles that limit the spread of this species in its native Argentina.
Here, the closest eligible noun, "struggles" makes perfect sense. What's limiting the spread of this species? A certain type of "struggles." That works. (Note, again: even if "that" weren't touching "struggles," the construction could be acceptable, so long as the two were reasonably close.)

At this point, you'd conclude the "that" is fine in this option and move on to other issues.

I hope that clears things up!
Thank you so much for the reply
So basically you are saying that since "struggles" make perfect sense with "limit the spread" and its closest to "that" , so that will modify struggles and not kind of
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Yep! Just don't worry too much about what noun is closest to "that."

Obviously, if "that" is touching a noun it can logically modify, it's fine, but if there's a short phrase between "that" and what it seems to describe, that can be perfectly acceptable, too.

The takeaway: there's no rule that tells us exactly where the noun should be in relation to "that." It just needs to be in the vicinity.
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In California, a lack of genetic variation in the Argentine ant has 05 Apr 2022, 20:21
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Hi GMATNinja daagh
With respect to this question, in all 5 choices, can you help explain the use of 'due to' vs 'because of'
I know that 'due to' is used to modify noun and 'because of' is used to modify verbs/ phrases but i am not able to understand how to check which word/ phrase is being modified in each of the 5 answer choices to then see if it is a noun / verb or a phrase
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Dear experts,

"because it is so genetically similar".. It should be either A "similar to" B or they are similar (it should be plural because we are trying to compare)

Can I eliminate (C) by this reason?
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In California, a lack of genetic variation in the Argentine ant has 29 Sep 2022, 04:30
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Tanchat
Dear experts,

"because it is so genetically similar".. It should be either A "similar to" B or they are similar (it should be plural because we are trying to compare)

Can I eliminate (C) by this reason?
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Hello Tanchat,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, yes; Option C can be eliminated for the use of the phrase "because it is so genetically similar, the ant considers all its fellows to be a close relative"; the use of the singular pronoun "it", the noun "the ant", and the phrase "a close relative" illogically implies that the species the Argentine Ant considers all its fellows a singular close relative; the intended meaning is that all individual Argentine ants consider all their fellows an individual close relation.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global team
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In California, a lack of genetic variation in the Argentine ant has 29 Sep 2022, 23:04
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Tanchat
Dear experts,

"because it is so genetically similar".. It should be either A "similar to" B or they are similar (it should be plural because we are trying to compare)

Can I eliminate (C) by this reason?
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If you're pointing out that it makes no sense for just one thing to be "similar", then, yes! That's a valid, and quite perceptive, reason for elimination.
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In California, a lack of genetic variation in the Argentine ant has 03 Jul 2023, 08:36
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I did not consider that the ants referred later in the sentence can he replaced by pronoun.Question starts with the Argentine ant , hence I looked for only options that has its. Corrective action :
When two sentences are separated by semicolon .Even if there is a singular pronoun used in 1st sentence .There can be plural references in the next sentences in there is a plural noun is present .
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