Because its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated

Question

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

JabtaGubar wrote

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.

rjacobsMGMAT · Accepted Answer

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.

daagh · Answer

@rjacobsMGMAT

I could not go much on your meaning. You say that

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.

rjacobsMGMAT · Answer

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!

ankurgupta03 · Answer

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

NR91 · Answer

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.

gultrage · Answer

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

add kudos if this helped you

VeritasPrepRon · Answer

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+.

Hope this helps!
-Ron

chetan2u · Answer

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

souvik101990 · Answer

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.

sowragu · Answer

Can someone explain the usage of Possessive pronoun in comparison  ?
Many Thanks

daagh · Answer

The possessive 'Japan's' , standing for Japan's military' is used to parallel the other possessive 'its'

lovenish · Answer

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

Skywalker18 · Answer

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.

D. its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated than Japan’s -

F. its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated than that of Japan -

1.  In options D and F(created by replacing the pronoun 'their' to 'its' in option C), is option D better than option F?
 
2.  In my opinion, both options D and F seem correct since the pronoun "that" in option F can refer to the noun military, but MGMAT instructor in the above post has stated otherwise.
 
 AjiteshArun  ,  GMATNinja  ,  MagooshExpert  ,  GMATGuruNY  ,  VeritasPrepBrian  ,  MartyMurray  ,  DmitryFarber  ,  daagh  ,  generis  , other experts - please enlighten

mathislife · Answer

Its should refer to the united states, so immediately cross out answers that start with “their.” B&C

A) This answer incorrectly compares the US military and the country of Japan. Is the US military larger and more sophisticated than Japan itself? No.

B) Their is incorrect

C) Their is incorrect

D) its = correct and “Japan’s” is correctly used to indicate comparison between US military and Japans military.

ayushkumar22941 · Answer

united states is singular so it will take singular its so b and c is out . in option a military of usa is compared to japan which is wrong comparison so option d is correct option

nivivacious · Answer

Lets break this down:

United States should have singular pronoun here so straight up eliminate B and C
We can also see that sentence has its military which is possessive so it should be Japan's, so we can eliminate A and E
Now we're left with D which is the answer

Because its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Because its military is larger and more technologically sophisticated

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