In their latest press release, the company's new management

[davetzulin]

In their latest press release, the company's new management stated a plan for expansion of its operations into the global software market via a series of acquisitions in Asia and Latin America.

(a) the company's new management stated a plan for expansion of its operations

(b) the new company's management stated that they planned on expanding its operations

(c) the company's new managers stated their plan to expand its operations

(d) the new company managers stated their plan for its operations, expanding

(e) the company's new management stated that they planned to expand its operations










OA = C

what does "its" refer to in C? the press release? the plan? nether antecedent makes sense to me.

[tim]

those shouldn't make sense. :) the correct antecedent for "its" is "the company's"..

[davetzulin]

those shouldn't make sense. :) the correct antecedent for "its" is "the company's"..

thanks Tim, I also think it should be company, but company is in the possessive case. so my understanding is it's not a noun, but an adjective.

all the problems have this usage.. could this be a case of the "best" answer

[jnelson0612]

those shouldn't make sense. :) the correct antecedent for "its" is "the company's"..

thanks Tim, I also think it should be company, but company is in the possessive case. so my understanding is it's not a noun, but an adjective.

all the problems have this usage.. could this be a case of the "best" answer

Hi Dave,
"its" is actually a possessive pronoun which in this case is referring to the possessive "the company's". A similar example would be "Jane's red dress and her green shoes make up a colorful outfit" with "her" referring to "Jane's". Hope this helps!

[vagarwal7]

why not A? is there an idiom test here

[tim]

No. In A, there is no antecedent for "their" at the beginning of the sentence..

[GMATDESTROYER]

What are the other possessive pronouns like "its" that can refer to the possessive ?


Hope I will get an answer before my GMAT Testm which is on 27th July :)

those shouldn't make sense. :) the correct antecedent for "its" is "the company's"..

thanks Tim, I also think it should be company, but company is in the possessive case. so my understanding is it's not a noun, but an adjective.

all the problems have this usage.. could this be a case of the "best" answer

Hi Dave,
"its" is actually a possessive pronoun which in this case is referring to the possessive "the company's". A similar example would be "Jane's red dress and her green shoes make up a colorful outfit" with "her" referring to "Jane's". Hope this helps!

[jnelson0612]

Sorry rich! I hope that your test went well. The other possessive pronoun that comes to mind is "their", which is used for plural possessives.

"John and Tim are excellent engineers and their final project won first place at the competition." In this case "their" refers to John and Tim.

"its" and "their" are part of the five deadly pronouns: IT, ITS, THEY, THEM, and THEIR. When you see them check to see that they are being used correctly!

[shaunzsdfk]

"its" is actually a possessive pronoun which in this case is referring to the possessive "the company's". A similar example would be "Jane's red dress and her green shoes make up a colorful outfit" with "her" referring to "Jane's". Hope this helps!

Are you sure?Is that green could match the red?

[tim]

No one said anything about the outfit matching, just that it's colorful! :)

[Jwan622]

The antecedent can't be the possessive form right?

In choice C, "its" refers back to "company's" which is in the possessive form. So, isn't this a problem?

[RonPurewal]

The antecedent can't be the possessive form right?

In choice C, "its" refers back to "company's" which is in the possessive form. So, isn't this a problem?

No.

[RonPurewal]

You should erase any trace of that "rule" from your brain. Basically, pretend you've never even seen it.
It's not a thing.

(Also, you must have outdated versions of the strategy guides; this useless "rule" has been purged from the current ones. I will apologize on the company's behalf for ever including it in previous editions, especially with the weird emphasis that it was given in the second and third editions. Ugh.)

Full explanation here:
post46683.html#p46683

[GiriP318]

Is there an example of above concept - possessive pronoun referring to possessive nouns - being tested in any of the Official materials?

Appreciate your efforts in advance!

[ShivaniS604]

Hi,
We can cancel D because there is no antecedent for 'its' in D. I have a question about the collective noun 'management' here.
In options A, B, and E, the antecedent for 'their' is 'management' which is a COLLECTIVE NOUN. Now, we know that in American english collective nouns are singular and in British english they are plural. In GMAT however, we should expect an indicator in the non-underlined part to tell us whether the given collective is singular or plural. But in this question we do not have any indicator. SO all the 3 options seem correct to me. I would prefer C but still the others are not incorrect in my view. How to decide in such a problem on GMAT?