United States Military

[s.ashwin.rao]

Because its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated than Japan, the United States shoulders much of the burden for patrolling and protecting the shipping lanes of the West Pacific.
A) its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated than Japan
B) their military is larger and more technologically sophisticated than Japan
C) their military is larger and more technologically sophisticated than that of Japan
D) its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated than Japan’s
E) its military has been larger and more technologically sophisticated than those of Japan

OA:D.

I have two issues here...
1) How the possessive japan be correct here?
2) Ron once said that "The X" is plural so "the united states" here should be plural.

And hence I selected C.

[jnelson0612]

Because its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated than Japan, the United States shoulders much of the burden for patrolling and protecting the shipping lanes of the West Pacific.
A) its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated than Japan
B) their military is larger and more technologically sophisticated than Japan
C) their military is larger and more technologically sophisticated than that of Japan
D) its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated than Japan’s
E) its military has been larger and more technologically sophisticated than those of Japan

OA:D.

I have two issues here...
1) How the possessive japan be correct here?
2) Ron once said that "The X" is plural so "the united states" here should be plural.

And hence I selected C.

The "United States" is a collective noun and is singular.

Would you say "The United States is a free country" or "The United States are a free country"?

As for "Japan's", that implies "Japan's military". Thus we are comparing military to military. For example, If I said "Your hair is like your brother's" you would know that I mean that your hair is like your brother's hair.