Verbal questions from any Manhattan Prep GMAT Computer Adaptive Test. Topic subject should be the first few words of your question.
Sage Pearce-Higgins
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Re: In their latest press release, the company's new management

by Sage Pearce-Higgins Sun May 06, 2018 6:46 am

In GMAT, you can assume that collective nouns are singular. Check out SC748, SC685, and CR578 (from OG 2018).
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Re: In their latest press release, the company's new management

by ShivaniS604 Mon May 07, 2018 10:50 am

Sage Pearce-Higgins Wrote:In GMAT, you can assume that collective nouns are singular. Check out SC748, SC685, and CR578 (from OG 2018).


Okk so first we should check if the sentence says anything about the collective noun being singular or plural. Otherwise, we should always assume it as singular and choose an answer according to this. Please correct me if i am wrong.
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Re: In their latest press release, the company's new management

by Sage Pearce-Higgins Fri May 11, 2018 5:37 am

first we should check if the sentence says anything about the collective noun being singular or plural

No, that's not necessary, as collective nouns are always singular on GMAT.
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Re: In their latest press release, the company's new management

by yo4561 Sun Jan 10, 2021 10:48 am

I realize logically that "its" should refer to company. However, why can't the "its" prefer to the "press release"?
esledge
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Re: In their latest press release, the company's new management

by esledge Thu Jan 21, 2021 12:36 pm

yo4561 Wrote:I realize logically that "its" should refer to company. However, why can't the "its" prefer to the "press release"?
Because of meaning: a "press release" can't have "operations." Also, "press release" is just a noun in an opening modifier, whereas "the company's" is a possessive noun modifying the subject in the main clause, so it is a stronger antecedent, so to speak, based on its placement and role.

Also, I think this must be the company/its example I replied to you about on another thread.
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Re: In their latest press release, the company's new management

by JbhB682 Sun Jun 06, 2021 8:39 pm

Hello - in D, can the possessive pronoun (ITS) refer back to a noun that is not in the possessive format ?

"ITS" is a possessive pronoun. The antecedent of the possessive pronoun should be a noun in the possessive format (specifically X's Y)

In option D - "Company" is NOT in the format of X's Y

Hence"ITS" cannot refer to "Company"

Hence I eliminated D

Is this accurate or not a good elimination strategy ?
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Re: In their latest press release, the company's new management

by esledge Wed Jun 09, 2021 7:37 pm

JbhB682 Wrote:Hello - in D, can the possessive pronoun (ITS) refer back to a noun that is not in the possessive format ?
A possessive pronoun can indeed refer back to a noun that is not possessive: The cat licked its paws.

You might be remembering that the reverse is not true.
A non-possessive pronoun cannot refer to a possessive noun: The cat's toys were lost under the couch where it could not reach them. (WRONG)

This is wrong because "it" cannot have "the cat's" as the antecedent. The only singular, non-possessive noun in the sentence is "couch"; replacing "it" with "couch" reveals the meaning problem.

JbhB682 Wrote:"ITS" is a possessive pronoun. The antecedent of the possessive pronoun should be a noun in the possessive format (specifically X's Y)

In option D - "Company" is NOT in the format of X's Y

Hence"ITS" cannot refer to "Company"

Hence I eliminated D

Is this accurate or not a good elimination strategy ?
Here's the problem in (D): "the company" is not a noun at all! It's an adjective! So the "its" could only refer to the singular nouns "press release" or maybe "plan," neither of which make sense.

(D) is like this: The new cat toys were lost under the couch out of its reach. (WRONG)
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