Kritesh
Without hiding the fact that the destruction of Athens was one of their most important objectives, the multitudinous Persian army, led by Xerxes and nine of his generals, marched westward toward Greece in the spring and summer of 480 BCE.
A. was one of their most important objectives
B. was one of its most important objectives
C. was one of the objectives they considered to be most important
D. having been one of its most important objectives
E. is one of its most important objectives
KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:
B.
The issue here is the pronoun
their. Usually a pronoun comes after its antecedent, but here the pronoun precedes what it refers to—the singular
Persian army, not the plural
Xerxes and 9 of his generals. The answer, then, will use the singular
its instead of
their. So (A) and (C) are out.
(D) uses
its, though it incorrectly changes the verb
was to the participle
having been (thus creating a clause without a verb). (E) changes the verb
was to
is, and destroys the correct sequence of tenses based on
marched. (B) is correct.