so X as to be Y ...

lalabee wrote:Hello,

I'm not sure why C is incorrect ..

isnt that the idiom "so X as to be Y ... " ??

what should be X and what should be Y ?

i think X has to be an adjective, while Y has to be a noun .. am i right on this?

kindly explain and thanks in advance.

The idiom has 2 forms
1. So X as to Y. X = adjective, Y = verb. [the weather was so hot as to threaten the crops in the field]
2. So X that Y. X = adjective

i think C is a bit too wordy, it would be correct if it said

individual colonies cooperate in a super-colony so large as to make its collective appetite a competitive threat to....

If A was something totally weird, C can still work as the correct answer. But since A has the correct idiom and is concise, you got to pick that. Hard question i say !

"So large as to cause" is a perfectly acceptable idiom on the GMAT. Where is this question from?

THe question is frm MGMAT online