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desertEagle
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Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required 09 Aug 2022, 04:39
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helpmeongmat
Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required to survive in the electronics industry, an industry marked by rapid innovation and volatile demand, such firms tend to be very large.


(A) to survive

(B) of firms to survive

(C) for surviving

(D) for survival

(E) for firms’ survival
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OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Answer to Question 181
The subject of the main clause (such firms) presumes a prior reference to the firms in question. Furthermore,
the logical subject of to survive and the logical complement of required should be made explicit. All three
demands are met by B, the best choice. Choices A, C, and D, with no reference to the firms in question, meet
none of these demands. In choice E, the illogical and awkward use of a prepositional phrase (for firms' survival)
buries the needed initial reference to firms in a possessive modifier.
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Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required 16 Oct 2022, 18:45
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helpmeongmat
Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required to survive in the electronics industry, an industry marked by rapid innovation and volatile demand, such firms tend to be very large.


(A) to survive

(B) of firms to survive

(C) for surviving

(D) for survival

(E) for firms’ survival
Show more

Can someone please explain how this question tests pronouns?
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Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required 16 Oct 2022, 23:22
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helpmeongmat
Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required to survive in the electronics industry, an industry marked by rapid innovation and volatile demand, such firms tend to be very large.


(A) to survive

(B) of firms to survive

(C) for surviving

(D) for survival

(E) for firms’ survival
Show more

In the non underlined part, stem uses the words, 'such firms'. Now we can use such X only when we have mentioned X before in the sentence, and stem hasn't mentioned firms anywhere!
SO correct option needs to mention firms, this alone eliminates, A,C and D.
In option E, they have used the possessive form of firm. so we cannot actually use such firms with a possessive mention, hence option E is out!
We are left with only 1 option.
Ans-B.
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Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required 18 Oct 2022, 04:35
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DesiMozart
helpmeongmat
Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required to survive in the electronics industry, an industry marked by rapid innovation and volatile demand, such firms tend to be very large.


(A) to survive

(B) of firms to survive

(C) for surviving

(D) for survival

(E) for firms’ survival

Can someone please explain how this question tests pronouns?
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Hello DesiMozart,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, this question test pronouns through its use of the phrase "such firms"; as "such firms" is a pronoun phrase, due to its use of "such", the correct answer choice must include the noun "firms" in order to give the pronoun phrase a logical referent.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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GyanOne
The mention of 'such firms' later in the sentence tells us that there must be a reference to the firms earlier on in the sentence. For this reason, A, C, and D are out.

Between B and E, B wins because it clearly mentions the firms for 'such firms' to refer back to this later on. In E, only the firms' survival is mentioned - not the firms themselves - so 'such firms' has no precedent to refer back to.

Clearly B.
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This is correct answer in one of the OG SC question...Here also 'she' has no precedent to refer back to ....how its possible
Although Elizabeth Barrett Browning's success was later overshadowed by that of her husband, among her contemporaries she was considered the better poet.
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Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required 26 Jan 2023, 06:30
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Hi, I was reading a post on how pronouns CAN refer to possessive pronouns on the GMAT. In this question, can't E be the correct answer then?
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Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required 28 Jan 2023, 01:04
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egmat karishma
I can only think of A, C, D as good options to mark. I can never think of B in the first place. Is it only idiom based question? How to tackle such similar questions?
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Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required 28 Jan 2023, 11:21
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samagra21


If you look through the commentary above, you can see that the key issue is not about idioms at all. B and E are the only possible choices because we need the word "firms" to justify the use of "such firms" later in the sentence. In general, you can catch things like this by asking why some new word is introduced in only some of the answer choices. Could it be serving a purpose or fixing a problem? This happens fairly often.
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Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required 28 Jan 2023, 11:24
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Shataqshi

That's right--many people are citing the old "possessive poison" rule that the GMAT does not follow. This question is old enough that the rule may have been in play at the time it came out. However, there's another reason to cut E. It doesn't clarify who's spending the money. It just says that a lot of money needs to be spent "for firms' survival." This could be money spent by the government or by private research institutions for all we know, or it could be that if ONE company spends a lot, the rest can survive. B more clearly indicates that each firm needs to spend a large amount to survive.
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Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required 08 Oct 2023, 05:31
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Others are an easy elimination. Between B and E - "require for" is a commonly used idiom (thus, we may fall into the trap)" as the "firm's" is possessive as against what we need is "firms." B has it, but being a non-native speaker, sometimes it is difficult to choose a wired-looking option - I'll say if you don't know something - maybe it is because you did not hear it. It may not necessarily be wrong. For non-native speakers, do a ton of quality reading. GMAT (or, for that matter, any other quality exam such as CAT in India) punishes the attitude of just relying on your ear. Now, back to the key point in our question
1. "require for" usage - It indicates something necessary or essential for a particular purpose or outcome. It suggests that a certain condition or qualification is needed to achieve a specific goal or fulfill a certain requirement.
E.g., A bachelor's degree is required for this job position. A valid ID is required for entry into the concert venue.

2. "require of" usage - It is used to express a demand or explanation placed on someone or something. It implies that someone is asking or expecting a specific action, behavior, or quality from another person or entity.
E.g., I require of you to complete the assignment by tomorrow. The job requires of its employees a high level of attention to detail. The coach requires of the team to attend practice regularly.
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Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required 02 Feb 2024, 11:11
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bmwhype2
helpmeongmat
Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required to survive in the electronics industry, an industry marked by rapid innovation and volatile demand, such firms tend to be very large.

(A) to survive
(B) of firms to survive
(C) for surviving
(D) for survival
(E) for firms’ survival

Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required to survive in the electronics industry, an industry marked by rapid innovation and volatile demand, such firms tend to be very large.

an industry marked by rapid innovation and volatile demand is a summative/resumptive modifier. we can pretty much ignore it since it does not add to the meaning of this stem.

therefore we only have this to consider:
Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required to survive in the electronics industry, such firms tend to be very large.

Normally this would be correct: (note the omission of SUCH)
Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required to survive in the electronics industry, firms tend to be very large.

however, SUCH signifies to the reader that it is referring back to firms, which is not mentioned in the dependent clause.
Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required to survive in the electronics industry, such firms tend to be very large.

therefore, we need to mention firms in the dependent clause.
Because of the enormous research and development expenditures required of firms to survive in the electronics industry, such firms tend to be very large.
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I see just one sentence here with 2 modifier. Where do you see a dependent clause? "Because of" is a phrase marker.

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