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Status: worked for Kaplan's associates, but now on my own, free and flying
Joined: 19 Feb 2007
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Location: India
WE: Education (Education)
Because its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated
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11 Jun 2012, 08:11
6
00:00
A
B
C
D
E
Difficulty:
5% (low)
Question Stats:
83% (00:53) correct 17% (01:02) wrong based on 567 sessions
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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
I am not sure why the OA is D. I think we compare the military of Japan and the US, not their shoulders. I choosed "that of Japan".
Nevertheless, the United States should be singular. So C is wrong.
There is no difference between that of Japan and Japan’s. More importantly, shoulders is not used as a noun here as in our physical shoulders. It is used as a verb, meaning takes on the responsibility. Therefore, D is ok.
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Re: Because its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated
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11 Jun 2012, 08:29
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Hey daagh, actually there is a difference between "that of Japan" and "Japan's" here. We're making a comparison (X is larger than Y). The comparable elements are "its military" and "Japan's military," so we want them to have the same structure (possessive + noun). Since the second possessive "Japan's" can legally imply a repeated noun, this is OK. However, "its military" and "that of Japan" is a mismatch - it's unclear what we're comparing. So D is the correct answer.
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Ryan Jacobs | Manhattan GMAT Instructor | San Francisco
Status: worked for Kaplan's associates, but now on my own, free and flying
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Re: Because its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated
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11 Jun 2012, 10:07
@rjacobsMGMAT
I could not go much on your meaning. You say that
Quote:
However, "its military" and "that of Japan" is a mismatch - it's unclear what we're comparing. So D is the correct answer.
I am also saying D is the answer and you concur and so no issues. But you contend that its military and Japan’s are a mismatch because Japan’s may not precisely point to what are being compared. If we have to let our fancy run riot, technically Japan’s could be Japan’s popluation or its GDP or any thing for that matter. This is what I comprehended by your averment. In that case, I thought that you were going to say, “So D is not the answer”, but you surprised me by saying that D is the answer. What am I missing?
Additionally, should we not use possessives like Japan’s, especially in comparisons?
Thanks in advance for your elucidation.
_________________
you can know a lot about something and not really understand it."-- a quote No one knows this better than a GMAT student does. Narendran +9198845 44509
Re: Because its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated
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11 Jun 2012, 10:21
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I see what you mean, here is some further explanation:
When the GMAT first says "its military" and then says "that of Japan," it's not immediately clear to me that they are making a comparison because those two noun phrases are not in the same format. Of course in real life I understand that we are comparing militaries, so the meaning is clear, but the structure is a problem.
However, when the GMAT says "its military" and then says "Japan's," it's clear that these two things are comparable. Even though the word "military" does not appear the second time, it's legal to use possessives to imply a noun that appeared earlier in the sentence. For example:
I like Sally's pies more than Rachel's.
This is a legal sentence. It implies the following: I like Sally's pies more than Rachel's pies.
Hope that clears things up!
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Ryan Jacobs | Manhattan GMAT Instructor | San Francisco
Re: Because its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated
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30 May 2013, 04:03
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 Incorrect comparision of US military with Japan (B) their military is larger and more technologically sophisticated than Japan Their is cannot be used as United States is a singular entity (C) their military is larger and more technologically sophisticated than that of Japan Their is cannot be used as United States is a singular entity (D) its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated than Japan’s Correct - correct comparision, pronoun (E) its military has been larger and more technologically sophisticated than those of Japan those is wrong _________________
Re: Because its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated
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30 May 2013, 04:26
appreciate your quick reply.
But can you help me with my doubt - i just rejected A,D and E as it contains "its" which is a possessive pronoun and as per my understanding, possessive pronoun refers to only possessive noun.
Re: Because its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated
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30 May 2013, 09:17
1
rishi0109 wrote:
appreciate your quick reply.
But can you help me with my doubt - i just rejected A,D and E as it contains "its" which is a possessive pronoun and as per my understanding, possessive pronoun refers to only possessive noun.
On the contrary, start by looking at what follows United States - 'shoulders' which shows that the sentence treats USA as a 'singular' entity. Therefore options with 'their' are eliminated. Now the second thing to look out for is what is being compared to what..A compares 'military' with Japan Military is a singular therefore E is wrong as it says 'those' Answer is D
As far as the use of possessive noun is concerned: Look at this statement - 'India is known for its brilliant mathematicians' I didn't use a possessive pronoun here yet the statement is right..In the question USA is possessive of the military...therefore its has been used correctly
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30 May 2013, 10:51
rishi0109 wrote:
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
I rejected all the its choices because its refers to it's and does not have any antecedent because as per my knowledge possessive pronouns only refer to possessive nouns.
The original statement has a huge flaw which is comparing a military to a country, so that knocks out A and B.
The possessive "their" must be singular, because the United States is singular. This is reinforced by the fact that the verb outside the underlined portion is the singular "shoulders", so B (again) and C are eliminated.
We're down to D and E. E is incorrect twice, once for using the plural "those" when referring to its military, and second for the timeline of "has been larger..." not working with the present tense used outside of the underlined portion.
The answer is indeed D, and it's fairly obvious from eliminating clearly incorrect answer choices. I can understand the confusion on "its", but all the other answer choices must be eliminated (often twice) for egregious errors. I don't see this question as 700+.
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26 Feb 2015, 04:07
1
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...correct
E. its military has been larger and more technologically sophisticated than those of Japan
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Re: Because its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated
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01 Mar 2015, 02:43
1
The original sentence contains a faulty comparison: it compares the military of the United States to Japan, rather than to Japan’s military. (A) This choice is incorrect as it repeats the original sentence. (B) This choice repeats the comparison error in the original sentence. Additionally, this choice creates a pronoun error by using the plural pronoun “their” to refer to the singular “United States.” (C) This choice corrects the comparison error by comparing the military of the United States to “that” of Japan. However, this choice includes a pronoun error by using the plural pronoun “their” to refer to the singular “United States.” (D) CORRECT. This choice correctly compares the military of the United States to “Japan’s”; although “military” is not explicitly stated, the possessive form implies that it refers to Japan’s military. Additionally, the singular pronoun “its” correctly refers to the singular “United States.” (E) This choice unnecessarily shifts to the present perfect tense “has been larger,” which is not parallel with the present tense verb “shoulders” in the main clause of the sentence. Furthermore, a military is a singular entity, whereas “those of Japan” incorrectly refer to something plural.
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Status: worked for Kaplan's associates, but now on my own, free and flying
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Re: Because its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated
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14 Jan 2016, 05:54
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The possessive 'Japan's' , standing for Japan's military' is used to parallel the other possessive 'its'
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you can know a lot about something and not really understand it."-- a quote No one knows this better than a GMAT student does. Narendran +9198845 44509
Re: Because its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated
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04 Apr 2018, 06:36
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. • its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated than Japan (Wrong Comparison of Army of one country to Country) • their military is larger and more technologically sophisticated than Japan(Their is plural hence wrong) • their military is larger and more technologically sophisticated than that of Japan. (Their is plural hence wrong) • its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated than Japan’s( correct) • its military has been larger and more technologically sophisticated than those of Japan . (Simple tense is suitable here) wrong
gmatclubot
Re: Because its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated &nbs
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04 Apr 2018, 06:36
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83% (00:53) correct 
