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Argentine Ant

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Argentine Ant

by Dean Jones » Sun Nov 20, 2011 1:57 am
Dear Friends,

I'm having problems in answering the following question. Please help.

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

OA after some discussions.

Regards
Deano.
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by Elena89 » Sun Nov 20, 2011 2:57 am
IMO (D)
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by patanjali.purpose » Sun Nov 20, 2011 3:07 am
Dean Jones 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
DUE TO...is used when we intend to show casual relationship. The intended meaning is to show that "bcoz of genetical similarity ants consider..."

THE ANTS...THEIR FELLOWS....does not agree with pronouns in non-underlined part (ITS).

The opening modifiers of 2nd sentence (does not contain complete phrase 'SO...THAT') does not clearly answer SO...WHAT
Dean Jones wrote: 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
DUE TO...is used when we intend to show casual relationship. The intended meaning is to show that "bcoz of genetical similarity ants consider..."

The opening modifiers of 2nd sentence (does not contain complete phrase 'SO...THAT') does not clearly answer SO...WHAT
Dean Jones wrote: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
Changes the original modifier to a clause & so acts as a intensifier here. The clause (the ants considers...) goes on to explain the intensifier SO.

verb LIMITS refers to the complete phrase 'the kind of fierce inter-colony struggles' and therefore singular correct
Dean Jones wrote: 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

THEY...THE ANTS...THEIR FELLOWS....does not agree with pronouns in non-underlined part (ITS).
Dean Jones wrote: 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

THE ANTS...THEIR FELLOWS....does not agree with pronouns in non-underlined part (ITS).

IMO C
Last edited by patanjali.purpose on Sun Nov 20, 2011 9:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by athanasepercevalve » Sun Nov 20, 2011 4:00 am
A-
due to their being
-> Incorrect, subject is Argentinian ant
B-
due to its being so genetically similar
-> Incorrect, not very effective and probably misuse of "Due to"
C- Correct IMO
D-
they are so
-> Incorrect, same as A
E-
because of being so
-> Incorrect, not very effective
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by aspirant2011 » Sun Nov 20, 2011 7:39 am
don't you guys feel that the usage of limits is wrong in option C?
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by ColumbiaVC » Sun Nov 20, 2011 9:29 pm
B
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by mankey » Mon Nov 21, 2011 8:44 am
IMO: C.

Whats the OA?

Thanks
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by HSPA » Mon Nov 21, 2011 9:41 am
+1 : C is not totally good
aspirant2011 wrote:don't you guys feel that the usage of limits is wrong in option C?
First take: 640 (50M, 27V) - RC needs 300% improvement
Second take: coming soon..
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HSPA.
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by sk8legend408 » Mon Nov 21, 2011 11:40 am
IMO B.

The Argentine ant is singular so eliminate A, D, and E.

Struggles is plural so limit should be used...eliminate C. You are left with B.

What's the OA?
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by jumsumtak » Mon Nov 21, 2011 12:35 pm
IMO D. The plural they might as well refer to "the ants" ...

in C, what is "it" similar to ?


Not very sure though :)
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by Dean Jones » Wed Nov 23, 2011 7:35 pm
OA is D. I was also vouching for option C. Can someone explain why option C is not correct?
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by jumsumtak » Wed Nov 23, 2011 11:17 pm
As I mentioned in my earlier post, option C does not state the intended meaning.

The reader never comes to know what the ant is similar to. It is illogical/ungrammatical to leave the comparison hanging in between. In D it is clearly stated that they are similar to one another.

Also, in answer to someone's query in a post above, 'its' in the non underlined portion refers to 'species' and hence it is aptly used.
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by rsarashi » Mon May 22, 2017 9:00 am
Hello Experts ,

Please explain that why option C is wrong?

Many thanks in advance.
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Mon May 22, 2017 9:16 am
rsarashi wrote:Hello Experts ,

Please explain that why option C is wrong?

Many thanks in advance.
You could write: X is similar to Y;
You could write: X and Y are similar.

But it would be incoherent to write X is similar without describing what x is similar to.
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by Ali Tariq » Mon May 22, 2017 9:22 am
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
struggles that limits-->SV disagreement

it is so genetically similar--> similar to what?,
similarity/difference, addition/subtraction, average/ratio, etc require atleast two entities.
There is also another official SC with same type of an error, in which word simultaneously was used for a single event, whereas simultaneously should always be used for atleast two events.
Use appropriate word/phrase for appropriate job, if possible and more importantly if given choice.
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