Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar

simplyjat wrote:Affording strategic proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco was also of interest to the French throughout the first half of the twentieth century because they assumed that if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure.

(A) if they did not hold it, their grip on Algeria was always insecure
(B) without it their grip on Algeria would never be secure
(C) their grip on Algeria was not ever secure if they did not hold it
(D) without that, they could never be secure about their grip on Algeria
(E) never would their grip on Algeria be secure if they did not hold it

OA B

GMATGuruNY wrote:

mundasingh123 wrote:So Gmat Guru , a pronoun could only refer to a noun that precedes and not a noun that comes after it

Generally, a pronoun refers to a noun that precedes it.
If there is no preceding noun, a pronoun may refer to a noun that follows, as in Q7 in the OG12:

As its sales of computer products have surpassed those of measuring instruments, the company...

Such is not the case with answer choice B above. Since there is a preceding noun (Morocco), it cannot refer to Algeria, the noun that follows.