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We know that 'The Coyote' is a collective noun and hence must be treated singular. So, (A) and (B) are eliminated on the spot (because these options refer to 'The coyote' using a plural pronoun 'they')

Notice the presence of the present perfect verb form 'has created' that appears after the underlined portion; this has to refer to 'the ability' of the Coyote.

(E) has this perfectly written. Hence, (E) is the right answer.
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This is a classic S-V agreement question, with a long middle man introduced through the additive "along with". Additives do not make a subject plural.

Split 1 : S-V agreement : Eliminate A and B.
Split 2 : when to be is C out.

D is wordy and can be eliminated over E.

E is the correct answer.

Hi sir, how to do know the it's a "it" not "they"? I chose A because i tot the touch rule must be applied because the pronoun is just quite close to "other species"
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phoenixstar16
This is a classic S-V agreement question, with a long middle man introduced through the additive "along with". Additives do not make a subject plural.

Split 1 : S-V agreement : Eliminate A and B.
Split 2 : when to be is C out.

D is wordy and can be eliminated over E.

E is the correct answer.

Hi sir, how to do know the it's a "it" not "they"? I chose A because i tot the touch rule must be applied because the pronoun is just quite close to "other species"


it's pretty simple you must have noticed "along with " in the middle of the sentence.
The coyote is one of several recent ecological success stories: along with bla bla.
which shows that you should consider the subject which comes before along.
for example
The politician, along with the journalists, is expected tomorrow.

as here you can see the politician is singular and journalists are plural.
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Hi GMATNinja

Would you please explain why the coyote cant be a plural? Apart from that... the coyote is a story or an animal??

I doubted about A and E because of the plural issue.
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Hi GMATNinja

Would you please explain why the coyote cant be a plural? Apart from that... the coyote is a story or an animal??

I doubted about A and E because of the plural issue.
Take another look at the beginning of the sentence: "The coyote is one of several..."

The question writer tells us how to think about the issue right off the bat. The use of the singular "is" and the word "one" tells us clearly that we're dealing with a single entity, and so the pronoun "it" is appropriate.

I'm not sure I understand your second question, but if you're asking whether "the coyote" should be thought of as an actual individual animal or as representative of a single species, the second interpretation makes more sense here. We're not talking about the "success" of a single animal that's won a race, but rather of one type of animal that's adapted to environmental changes.

I hope that helps!
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why is the noun form 'ability' used here
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why is the noun form 'ability' used here
Hello, no11one. I believe both abhimahna (in this earlier post) and DmitryFarber (in this follow-up post have answered your query. Please let us know if you have further questions, though.

Good luck with your studies.

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I had trouble deciding whether "Coyote" is singular or plural, can anybody help?
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I had trouble deciding whether "Coyote" is singular or plural, can anybody help?
Notice that the non-underlined part says:

The coyote is one of several recent ecological success stories

This shows that coyote is singular.
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The coyote is one of several recent ecological success stories: along with the white-tailed deer, the moose, and other species that are enlarging their natural domains, they have established themselves as supreme adapters in an era when the capability to adjust to the environmental changes wrought by human beings has created a whole new class of dominant large mammals.
Find the structure: the chayote is….(IC): along with…(dependent clause), pronoun+full verb(IC). [Once you recognise the above structure, it is easy to understand what should be your pronoun.]

(A) they have established themselves as supreme adapters in an era when the capability
- pronoun mistake
(B) they have established themselves as being supreme adapters in an era when being able
- pronoun mistake
(C) it has established itself as a supreme adapter in an era when to be able
- when to be able is unidiomatic, never seen as subject on gmat
(D) it has established itself as being a supreme adapter in an era when its ability
- being a supreme leader is unidiomatic, never seen on gmat right choice
(E) it has established itself as a supreme adapter in an era when the ability
- correct
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I read somewhere that able is preferred over ability. Hence I selected option C.
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The coyote is one of several recent ecological success stories: along with the white-tailed deer, the moose, and other species that are enlarging their natural domains, they have established themselves as supreme adapters in an era when the capability to adjust to the environmental changes wrought by human beings has created a whole new class of dominant large mammals.


(A) they have established themselves as supreme adapters in an era when the capability
They - wrong : Here , we are talking about Coyte - singular

(B) they have established themselves as being supreme adapters in an era when being able
same error

(C) it has established itself as a supreme adapter in an era when to be able
'When to be' - error

(D) it has established itself as being a supreme adapter in an era when its ability
Its ability - usage is incorrect and meaning is distorted

(E) it has established itself as a supreme adapter in an era when the ability
Correct

A: They -
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SUPCFAFRM
I read somewhere that able is preferred over ability. Hence I selected option C.
Cardinal Rule #1 of SC: do not invent rules. :)

There's no rule here. All we have to go on is meaning. Both "To be able" and "ability" are functioning as the subject of a clause here.

So, as Dmitry Farber asks in ean arlier post, which of these makes sense more sense: "The ability... has created a new class of animals" or "To be able... has created a new class of animals"? The second construction is illogical. You could write "to be able to swim is important," but it's hard to see how "to be able" could create anything.

So no grammar involved here. "The ability" is preferred in this case because it's more logical. Simple as that.

I hope that clears things up!
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