Insects also require far less feed than do animals; they require: a $15 mixture of cat-food, cereal, and powdered milk can feed thousands of bugs for two months.
Please choose from one of the following options.
A) NO CHANGE
B) animals. They require:
C) animals, requiring:
D) animals:
The correct answer is D. Why? I picked B i thought you needed to make a list.
Sometimes with the standardized tests, you need to learn the test’s sense of grammar rather than some objective standard. Just learn the test’s constructs.
For the MCAT once upon a time, they didn’t like the phrase “due to” as in “She didn’t wear her sun glasses due to the rain.” MCAT found that wrong wrong wrong even though due to is commonly used in this way.
Learn what the test wants and then use whatever you want for the rest of your life.
In the sentence, the word “require” is unnecessary and incorrect. Perhaps a big pile of granola or a bucket of honey could also feed the insects. See what I mean?
A colon instead of a semicolon may be used between independent clauses when the second sentence explains, illustrates, paraphrases, or expands on the first sentence. Example: He got what he worked for: he really earned that promotion.
The thing before a colon must be an independent clause. In the sentence above, it’s not. The thing after can be any grammatical unit as long as it gives more information about or relates to the stuff before the colon. That’s the rule for colons on the SAT. @jyp2pm1
using they wouldn’t make sense or in other words confusing because you have to take the time to rgink of who are they the first thought for me was it is refering to insects that is why it might be confusing extra and unnecessary
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner 
It already used the word “require” in the first sentence. Adding another require in this situation is unnecessary. Clear and Concise. They is also unclear because “they” could be referring to animals or insects. Bottom line: If multiple answers work take the shortest one (unless its ambiguous of course)
Do you think multiple answers work here? Because, um, that’s not the case.
A and B are the same so they cancel each other out. D is correct because it was already stated that they are about to list what is required, so there is no need to repeat the word require again
Basically: a semi-colon and a period are the same for SAT/ACT, so if the test gives you an option to choose between the two then BOTH are WRONG because they will never make you choose between two things that are the exact same.
The answer is D and NOT C because in ACT/SAT the more concise the better, so you don’t want to repeat something if it is unnecessary and in this case it is unnecessary to say “requiring” again
People keep talking about conciseness, which occasionally comes into play, but only after actual grammar errors have been ruled out. In other words, style is subordinate to grammar on this exam. Full stop.
D is the answer (and B and C are wrong) because:
It really is that simple. Know the rules.
@marvin100 I didn’t say that multiple choices work here. There are legit reasons why it would be D instead of the others, I was just saying to use that as a rule of thumb when you think that multiple answer choices are correct, which in the OP’s case he didn’t see anything wrong with multiple answers.
So much easier–and more effective!–to learn the rules than to make up rules of thumb, though, is the thing.