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its vs their?

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its vs their?

by kiranlegend » Fri Jul 11, 2008 9:32 am
The members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries usually comply with their decisions, which are designed to maximize the long term profits of member nations.


their decisions, which are designed to maximize

its decisions, which are designed to maximize

their decisions that are designed for the maximization of

its decisions that are designed for the maximization of

its decisions, designed as they are to maximize
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by raunekk » Fri Jul 11, 2008 2:26 pm
IMO:A

Here,


" members " is plural..so it will take plural "their"

"ITS" is used for singular noun.


"for the maximization of " is wrong usage "to maximize" is right idiom.
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by loki.gmat » Fri Jul 11, 2008 10:18 pm
in the question above, the intended meaning is to highlight the compliance of the member countries to the decisions made by OPEC as an organisation. so we require "its" (singular possessive pronoun) here n not "their".

so eliminate A n C.

D - "the maximization of ......." is incorrect usage.

E - antecedant of "they" is not clear.

hence IMO B.


Thanks!
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by raunekk » Fri Jul 11, 2008 11:53 pm
kiranlegend

i am a bit confused over here.. may i know wats d correct answer..

I cannot make out what is "its" referring to..

OA??

thx
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by reachac » Sat Jul 12, 2008 12:01 am
IMO B

@ Raunekk .... Anybody taking a desicion will comply by his/her own decision, rite? so their should not be used to refer the members instead its be used to refer to the organization an a whole. I think probably that was ur confusion buddy?
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by kiranlegend » Sat Jul 12, 2008 1:17 am
reachac wrote:IMO B

@ Raunekk .... Anybody taking a desicion will comply by his/her own decision, rite? so their should not be used to refer the members instead its be used to refer to the organization an a whole. I think probably that was ur confusion buddy?
yo mate you are right!

let me explain to the extent my lil brain understood:
the sentence is like a doubled subject one (but can't call it that way i guess :P ): The members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

members is one subject and Organization is the another one that is substituted by its, a possesive pronoun. Is it ok to say like this?:P
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by xcusemeplz2009 » Sat Oct 10, 2009 10:06 am
reopening this one can any one explain wats the actual subject and wats the correct ans
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by mehravikas » Sat Oct 10, 2009 3:12 pm
IMO - A
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by crackgmat007 » Sat Oct 10, 2009 3:31 pm
A for me too. IMO antecedent must be a noun & must be functioning as a subject or object.

Can anyone clarify whether a pronoun can refer to a noun that doesnt function as a subject or object of the verb? If this is not a rule, then I guess, B may be right.
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by nikhilgirdhar » Sun Oct 11, 2009 2:28 am
xcusemeplz2009 wrote:reopening this one can any one explain wats the actual subject and wats the correct ans
IMO B.

the sentence talks about complying with the decisions(of the organization).

Complying with one's own decisions(members complying with their decisions) makes no sense. If it's their own decision obviously they will go by it, but the decision of the organization may not be the decision of all the members still members will comply by it's decision.

Seems more of a CR question to me :)
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Re: its vs their?

by JeffB » Sun Oct 11, 2009 10:15 am
kiranlegend wrote:The members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries usually comply with their decisions, which are designed to maximize the long term profits of member nations.


their decisions, which are designed to maximize

its decisions, which are designed to maximize

their decisions that are designed for the maximization of

its decisions that are designed for the maximization of

its decisions, designed as they are to maximize
I always try to take the core of the sentence and the errors usually jump out at me. Subject, verb, object

The members comply with their decisions?

The member comply with its decisions...?

They're complying with the decisions of the organization, which is singular.
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Re: its vs their?

by mehravikas » Sun Oct 11, 2009 12:09 pm
I think in this sentence members are complying with their own decisions not the decision of the organization.

JeffB wrote:
kiranlegend wrote:The members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries usually comply with their decisions, which are designed to maximize the long term profits of member nations.


their decisions, which are designed to maximize

its decisions, which are designed to maximize

their decisions that are designed for the maximization of

its decisions that are designed for the maximization of

its decisions, designed as they are to maximize
I always try to take the core of the sentence and the errors usually jump out at me. Subject, verb, object

The members comply with their decisions?

The member comply with its decisions...?

They're complying with the decisions of the organization, which is singular.
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B

by brick2009 » Sun Oct 11, 2009 10:43 pm
Can you please post the OA.

I think its A.

Isolating the core.. can help you find the relative sub-verb relation.
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i confuse!

by kiennguyen » Mon Oct 12, 2009 1:12 am
anyone please explain me!

in my lit knowledge, the comma before "which" in B means that "which" refer to the previous sentence. however, i think "which" refer to "decisions" in this situation. therefore, i chose D.
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by gmat620 » Mon Oct 12, 2009 4:05 am
I think its B, since the 'its' refers to the organisation. Substitute organisation in place of pronoun and you would see that there's no prob wid its
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