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Thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, ants leave behind pheromone trails that can be used as signals or messages for other ants.

(A) Thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, ants leave behind pheromone trails that can be used
(B) Ants leave behind pheromone trails that are thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, and they can use this
(C) Thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of ants’ bodies, pheromone trails left behind can be used
(D) Emanating it is thought from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, ants leave behind pheromone trails they can use
(E) Emanating, it is thought, from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, pheromone trails are left behind by ants that can be used

Meaning Analysis
Ants leave behind trails of pheromone. The pheromone is thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of ants' bodies. The trails can be used as signals or messages for other ants.

POE
(A) Pheromones are the ones that 'emanate' from a tine gland, not the ants. "Ants" after the comma misleadingly indicates that ants are the ones that emanate from a tiny gland. Doesn't make any sense. INCORRECT
(B) "and they can use this" - the antecedent to 'this' is not clear; it is not clear whether 'this' refers to the trails, a tiny gland or the underside of ants' bodies. INCORRECT
(C) CORRECT
(D) ' Emanating it is thought ' is unidiomatic. INCORRECT
(E) 'it is thought' - no clear antecedent for 'it'; The phrase 'pheromone trails' is located too far away from the word 'Emanating' that is supposed to modify the phrase. The whole sentence is not clear and wordy. INCORRECT

My choice: C
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Thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, ants leave behind pheromone trails that can be used as signals or messages for other ants.

(A) Thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, ants leave behind pheromone trails that can be used
(B) Ants leave behind pheromone trails that are thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, and they can use this
(C) Thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of ants’ bodies, pheromone trails left behind can be used
(D) Emanating it is thought from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, ants leave behind pheromone trails they can use
(E) Emanating, it is thought, from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, pheromone trails are left behind by ants that can be used


OA after three attempts

Two very important rules-

1.) Pronouns should have a clear antecedent.
2.) The intended replacement for pronoun should actually exist in the sentence as a noun. ( the latter part in option B, 'and they can use this' does not have a clear antecedent)

Emanating is incorrect usage. None of the options have followed this rule.
Option C is the winner
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let's understand the meaning:
pheromone is emanated from a tiny gland on the underside of the ants' bodies.
this pheromones leave trails.
these trails can be used as signals or messages for other ants.


(A) Thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, ants leave behind pheromone trails that can be used
it should be pheromone the subject of the sentence, not ants. it is not ants who are thought to emanate from a tiny gland.

(B) Ants leave behind pheromone trails that are thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, and they can use this
the original sentence does not mention that the ants leave behind pheromone with the purpose of using the trails... so b is out.
note how this one is switched to active voice? :)

(C) Thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of ants’ bodies, pheromone trails left behind can be used
looks good. pheromone is thought to emanate from a tiny gland. trails can be used for smth. so looks good.

(D) Emanating it is thought from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, ants leave behind pheromone trails they can use
2 IC connected with comma only. incorrect. moreover, very wordy and difficult to comprehend. Again, change of voice now implies that ants who left the trails use them.

(E) Emanating, it is thought, from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, pheromone trails are left behind by ants that can be used
ants that can be used - that can be used incorrectly modifies ants, thus this change is incorrect.
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Thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, ants leave behind pheromone trails that can be used as signals or messages for other ants.

(A) Thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, ants leave behind pheromone trails that can be used
(B) Ants leave behind pheromone trails that are thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, and they can use this
(C) Thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of ants’ bodies, pheromone trails left behind can be used
(D) Emanating it is thought from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, ants leave behind pheromone trails they can use
(E) Emanating, it is thought, from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, pheromone trails are left behind by ants that can be used

A - gives the feeling that ants emanate from a tiny gland on the underside... hence, wrong
B - 'and they can use this' does not refer correctly to pheromone.
C - right answer - properly connects pheromone trails to the tiny gland. and properly connects tiny gland to ants' bodies.
D - emanating it is... wrong usage
E - that can be used may also refer to ants which is incorrect.
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It was between B and C. I chose B in the first attempt.

B seems incorrect because the antecedent of this is not there. C has no grammatical errors, though it has the less preferred apostophy.
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+1 for C.
Split 1 : Modifier in the beginning aims at modifying pheromone trails. So A is out.
Split 2 : D and E also have modifier errors.
Split B and C : this is incorrect in B. Even if it were replaced with "these", the sentence would have pronoun reference ambiguity between ants and pheromone trails - All other pronouns refer to Ants. These would refer to trails.

C is the winner
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[quote="daagh"]Thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, ants leave behind pheromone trails that can be used as signals or messages for other ants.

(A) Thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, ants leave behind pheromone trails that can be used
(B) Ants leave behind pheromone trails that are thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, and they can use this
(C) Thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of ants’ bodies, pheromone trails left behind can be used
(D) Emanating it is thought from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, ants leave behind pheromone trails they can use
(E) Emanating, it is thought, from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, pheromone trails are left behind by ants that can be used


sir i have a doubt how can pheromone trails emanate it should be pheromone that needs to emanate and the chemical leave trails
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daagh
Thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, ants leave behind pheromone trails that can be used as signals or messages for other ants.


(A) Thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, ants leave behind pheromone trails that can be used

(B) Ants leave behind pheromone trails that are thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, and they can use this

(C) Thought to emanate from a tiny gland on the underside of ants’ bodies, pheromone trails left behind can be used

(D) Emanating it is thought from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, ants leave behind pheromone trails they can use

(E) Emanating, it is thought, from a tiny gland on the underside of their bodies, pheromone trails are left behind by ants that can be used

MANHATTAN REVIEW OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:



This question concerns a dangling modifier. What is thought to emanate? The pheromone trails are. Therefore ‘pheromone trails’ must come directly after the comma. Eliminate A and D. The ‘this’ at the end of option B refers to the trails. You cannot have a singular pronoun referring to a plural noun. Eliminate B. E implies it is the ants, rather then the trails, that can be used. Choice C is the best answer.
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