a lack of genetic variation

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a lack of genetic variation

by atulmangal » Sun Mar 27, 2011 11:44 pm
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 inter-colony 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 inter-colony 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 inter-colony struggles that limit
C. because it is so genetically similar, the ant considers all its fellows to be close relatives and thus does not engage in the kind of fierce inter-colony 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 inter-colony 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 inter-colony struggles that limits

Guys in my opinion the answer of this question should be Op C but the OA is D....i don't know how...???
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by AIM GMAT » Mon Mar 28, 2011 12:00 am
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 inter-colony 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 inter-colony struggles that limit

C. because it is so genetically similar, the ant considers all its fellows to be close relatives and thus does not engage in the kind of fierce inter-colony 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 inter-colony 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 inter-colony struggles that limits

IMO D.A single ant cannot lead to these results it has to be followed by all ant community , hence C is wrong .
Thanks & Regards,
AIM GMAT

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by atulmangal » Mon Mar 28, 2011 12:08 am
AIM GMAT wrote: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 inter-colony 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 inter-colony struggles that limit

C. because it is so genetically similar, the ant considers all its fellows to be close relatives and thus does not engage in the kind of fierce inter-colony 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 inter-colony 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 inter-colony struggles that limits

IMO D.A single ant cannot lead to these results it has to be followed by all ant community , hence C is wrong .
@AIM

Can you please explain what do u think about the use of ITS in the NON-UNDERLINED portion...
"the spread of this species in its native Argentina"....though i think that here ITS is acting as a possessive pronoun but still if
the word ANTS is there in the UNDERLINED portion then instead of ITS, THEIRS should be used...what do u think?????
This ITS confused me and i picked C as my answer

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by AIM GMAT » Mon Mar 28, 2011 12:20 am
"Its" is referring back to "species".
Thanks & Regards,
AIM GMAT

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by force5 » Mon Mar 28, 2011 12:32 am
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 inter-colony 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 inter-colony 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 inter-colony struggles that limit
C. because it is so genetically similar, the ant considers all its fellows to be close relatives and thus does not engage in the kind of fierce inter-colony 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 inter-colony 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 inter-colony struggles that limits

Good question Atul

here is my explanation for choosing between C and D

Although the subject verb agreement is correct in both
C- The ant--it and D- the ants- They ... there is a big error in choice C............

because it is so genetically similar, the ant considers all its fellows to be close relatives and thus does not engage in the kind of fierce inter-colony struggles that limits ------ Subject verb agreement error. it should be stuggles that limit. Hence C is gone...

Coming back to your question--- Its in non underlined part refers to Species ( remember species is singular)...


COMING back to the question i would like to know the source.... I feel its not a good question... Choice D uses idiom.. consider ..to be ( this is incorrect idiom usage... we don't prefer this these days).... Now you know..

Hope it helps...

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by HSPA » Mon Mar 28, 2011 1:04 am
I am not going with C

Keyword: inter-colony struggle =>
All varities of ants consider 'each other' as relative.
It is not one ant varity considering all other as relatives.

+1 for D

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by atulmangal » Mon Mar 28, 2011 1:39 am
force5 wrote:
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 inter-colony 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 inter-colony 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 inter-colony struggles that limit
C. because it is so genetically similar, the ant considers all its fellows to be close relatives and thus does not engage in the kind of fierce inter-colony 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 inter-colony 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 inter-colony struggles that limits

Good question Atul

here is my explanation for choosing between C and D

Although the subject verb agreement is correct in both
C- The ant--it and D- the ants- They ... there is a big error in choice C............

because it is so genetically similar, the ant considers all its fellows to be close relatives and thus does not engage in the kind of fierce inter-colony struggles that limits ------ Subject verb agreement error. it should be stuggles that limit. Hence C is gone...

Coming back to your question--- Its in non underlined part refers to Species ( remember species is singular)...


COMING back to the question i would like to know the source.... I feel its not a good question... Choice D uses idiom.. consider ..to be ( this is incorrect idiom usage... we don't prefer this these days).... Now you know..

Hope it helps...
@ Force

Thanks for the explanation, it helped

But, You are WRONG about the IDIOM issue...infact you are making the same mistake which i made a couple of weeks back...i thought that CONSIDER X,Y is the only CORRECT IDIOM...But actually CONSIDER X TO BE Y...is also a CORRECT IDIOM...infact according to some faculty on MANHATTAN FORUM, i guess, i read that sometimes we have to use CONSIDER TO BE INSTEAD OF CONSIDER X,Y because in some cases CONSIDER X,Y causes redundancy....

Hope this helps..

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by force5 » Mon Mar 28, 2011 4:31 am
Hey Atulmangal thanks for updating. you are correct consider x to be y is not incorrect. However my point was we don't use it very often. I don't know if there is any grammatical difference between consider x to be y and consider x,y but if given a choice i would prefer the latter. Again as i said we don't prefer consider.....to be, its still not incorrect. And this is why i was questioning the authenticity of the question for using a tense form that is not preferred ( because i think GMAT would not like to give you an option with ambiguity)

Thanks again dear, opinions always help.

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by atulmangal » Mon Mar 28, 2011 6:25 am
force5 wrote:Hey Atulmangal thanks for updating. you are correct consider x to be y is not incorrect. However my point was we don't use it very often. I don't know if there is any grammatical difference between consider x to be y and consider x,y but if given a choice i would prefer the latter. Again as i said we don't prefer consider.....to be, its still not incorrect. And this is why i was questioning the authenticity of the question for using a tense form that is not preferred ( because i think GMAT would not like to give you an option with ambiguity)

Thanks again dear, opinions always help.
@force
M glad as my opinion helped you...well let me share some more information...i told you that in MANHATTAN forum i found a post where a faculty stated the use of CONSIDERED TO BE....well here is the information he posted---

it's possible to write a construction in which "consider X to be Y" is actually necessary, because "consider X Y" is an ambiguous construction.
here you go:

EXAMPLE
at the restaurant i tried the "bandeja paisa", considered one of antioquia's staple dishes, and regarded the rest of the menu with fascination.
--> two meanings.
1) i "considered" the dish = thought about trying it;
2) the bandeja paisa is considered to be one of the staple dishes of antioquia.

if i mean to write #2, i can write
at the restaurant i tried the "bandeja paisa", considered to be one of antioquia's staple dishes, and regarded the rest of the menu with fascination
...no more ambiguity.

SO in this case use of CONSIDERED TO BE is better...

Hope this help

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