The firms current growth plan targets expansion through vertical inte

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To answer your query, Option B incorrectly uses “which will be speeded up by providing increased acquisition funding as well as a special employee retention program” to modify “vertical integration”, incorrectly implying that the concept of “vertical integration” will be sped up through the provision of increased acquisition funding and an employee retention program; the intended meaning is that the firm targets expansion through vertical integration and provides the funding as well as a special employee retention program to speed the process up; remember, "who/whose/whom/which/where", when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma. Additionally, Option B is awkward and needlessly indirect due to its use of the passive voice.

To understand the concept of "Which/Who/Whose/Where" on GMAT you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



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Experts' Global Official Explanation:

Meaning + Modifiers + Pronouns + Parallelism + Redundancy/Awkwardness

Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of the crucial part of this sentence is that the firm targets expansion through vertical integration and provides the funding as well as a special employee retention program to speed the process up.

• When “which” is preceded by a comma, it refers to the noun immediately before the comma.

A. This answer choice subtly alters the meaning of the sentence, as the phrase “vertical integration with increased acquisition funding and a special employee retention program” incorrectly implies that the firm’s growth plan targets expansion through vertical integration, which includes “increased acquisition funding as well as a special employee retention program”; however, the intended meaning is that the firm targets expansion through vertical integration and provides the funding as well as a special employee retention program to speed the process up. Additionally, Option A suffers from a pronoun error, as “it” has no clear antecedent.

B. This answer choice incorrectly uses “which will be speeded up by providing increased acquisition funding as well as a special employee retention program” to modify “vertical integration”, incorrectly implying that the concept of “vertical integration” will be sped up through the provision of increased acquisition funding and an employee retention program; the intended meaning is that the firm targets expansion through vertical integration and provides the funding as well as a special employee retention program to speed the process up. Additionally, Option B is awkward and needlessly indirect due to its use of the passive voice.

C. Correct. This answer choice conveys the intended meaning of the sentence and maintains parallelism and proper pronoun use.

D. This answer choice incorrectly uses “which, by their providing increased acquisition funding as well as a special employee retention program, will speed the process” to modify “vertical integration”, incorrectly implying that the concept of “vertical integration” will speed up the integration process through the firm’s provision of increased acquisition funding and an employee retention program; the intended meaning is that the firm targets expansion through vertical integration and provides the funding as well as a special employee retention program to speed the process up. Additionally, Option D suffers from a pronoun error, as it refers to the singular noun “firm’s” with the plural pronoun “their”.

E. This answer choice incorrectly modifies the noun “vertical integration” with the phrase “which provides increased acquisition funding…”, incorrectly implying that the noun “vertical integration” provides “increased acquisition funding and a special employee retention program”.

C is the best answer choice.

Experts' Global Video Explanation: