Actually... I'm pretty sure that (A) would be acceptable on the GMAT. And there's nothing wrong with (C), either.
Before I continue, my usual disclaimer: it is unbelievably difficult to write great, GMAT-style verbal questions. The GMAT spends somewhere between $1500 and $3000 developing each question, and I'm totally cool with the fact that test-prep companies (mine included!) will never be able to compete with that.
Disclaimer #2: I'm about to describe a pretty arcane little exception to the GMAT's pronoun "rules", so if you're still struggling with the fundamentals, this one might not be for you.
Many of you have a perfectly reasonable instinct to conclude that the "its" is ambiguous, because it could, at least in theory, refer to any number of singular nouns here: energy, source, network, or China's. That seems ambiguous, right?
But consider this case:
- Cucumbers cost more than tomatoes in grocery stores in western states, and they also taste like chalk.
"They" could refer to any number of things (cucumbers, tomatoes, stores, or states), right? So it's ambiguous, right?
Not so fast. On the GMAT, if a sentence has more than one clause (dependent or independent), then the grammatical subject of the second clause can unambiguously refer to the grammatical subject of the first clause. Here's that same sentence again, with the subjects highlighted:
- Cucumbers cost more than tomatoes in grocery stores in western states, and they also taste like chalk.
So the "they" would NOT be considered ambiguous in this case on the GMAT. Here's another example of the same concept on an official question:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/in-some-spec ... 36080.htmlAnd here's the original question again, with the grammatical subjects highlighted:
Quote:
China’s vast network of dams has long stood as the country’s primary source of renewable energy, but its interest in building more large hydroelectric generating stations has waned in favor of burgeoning solar and wind industries.
To be fair, there's some grey area in this case, since "China's" and "its" are both possessive. But since both "China's" and "its" are part of the subjects of their respective clauses, I wouldn't automatically assume that the pronoun is wrong.
Bottom line: just be a little bit careful with the "subject to subject" pronoun exception when you're doing official questions.