According to entomologists, single locusts are quiet

A stands

A. when locusts are placed with others of their species,

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

C. locusts, when placed with others of their species,

D. placing them with others of their species,

E. placed with others of their species, then

A for me
B-"placing" is the wrong verb tense.
C-illogical structure when using a restrictive clause in "when placed with others of their species". b/c if you remove the RC, sentence says "Locusts..they"
D-"placing" wrong
E-need "when" with placed.

Also think that B,C,D,E have referent problems with "their" and "them"

According to entomologists, single locusts are quiet creatures, but when locusts are
placed with others of their species, they become excited, change color, vibrate, and even
hum.

A. when locusts are placed with others of their species,

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

C. locusts, when placed with others of their species,

D. placing them with others of their species,

E. placed with others of their species, then (Out , because of pronoun ambiguity (placed modifying quite creatures or locusts) .As per proximity rule it modifies quite creatures.However,it should logically modify locusts)

Furthermore, Why not (C) ???????????????? Its clear and concise

Thanks a lot for your explanation.

So the takeaway from this must be that the sentence should make sense without non-essential modifier.

Rgds,
Thanks

You're welcome. So, the takeaway is that in general, words or phrases delimited by commas are considered noise. That is they just give additional information, without which the meaning/focus of the sentence does not change. Certainly, there are exceptions as with lists but in this example, choice C is incorrect because of subject verb pair issue. "Locusts" is the subject of the clause, which needs a verb but having "they" (the object of "Locusts" - also needs a verb) in C, takes away the verb intended for the subject of the clause. So, the second takeaway is that each clause in a sentence needs to have a verb for every subject/object encountered in the sentence.

A. when locusts are placed with others of their species, correct choice. but preceded by ',' is followed by complete sentence

B. when placing them with others of their species, then. Finding by scientists is a fact and -ing is not required for stating a fact. Also, 'then' is not required; instead it is understood.

C. locusts, when placed with others of their species, they become excited.. does not make sense

D. placing them with others of their species, them refers to what?

E. placed with others of their species, then fragment sentence preceded only with ','

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, generis

Thanks in advance.

According to entomologists, single locusts are quiet creatures, but when locusts are placed with others of their species, they become excited, change color, vibrate, and even hum.

A. when locusts are placed with others of their species, - Correct. 'they' is in the non-underlined part and correctly refers to the subject of the 2nd clause - locusts.

B. when placing them with others of their species, then - subject of the previous clause is 'single locusts'. It is locusts that are placed with others of their (locusts) species and not single locusts

C. locusts, when placed with others of their species, - Not a sentence

D. placing them with others of their species, - Same error as B

E. placed with others of their species, then - Same error as B

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!

This question is based on Modifiers and Construction.

Option A appropriately conveys the meaning. The underlined portion gives a contradiction to the first part of the sentence. The adverb ‘when’ conveys a specific instance. So, A is the best of all the options.

The participle modifier “when placing them with others of their species” doesn’t have an appropriate subject. It is not clear who is placing the locusts with others of their species. So, Option B can be eliminated.

Since the pronoun ‘they’ is mentioned, there is no need to repeat the noun ‘locusts’. So, Option C can be eliminated.

The participle modifier in Option D does not have an appropriate subject. It is not clear who is placing them with others of their species. So, Option D can be eliminated.

The adverb ‘then’ is redundant in Option E as the participle phrase “placed with others of their species” itself conveys a sense of time. So, Option E can also be eliminated.

Therefore, A is the most appropriate option.

Jayanthi Kumar.

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