Pronoun issue - Exporter of honey

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Pronoun issue - Exporter of honey

by gmatrant » Wed Feb 01, 2012 10:15 pm
In little more than a decade, Argentina has become the world's leading exporter of honey, with
nearly 90,000 tons a year sold to foreign markets, almost half of which going
to the United States.
A. with nearly 90,000 tons a year sold to foreign markets, almost half of which going
B. with the sale of nearly 90,000 tons a year to foreign markets, and almost half of it that goes
C. with the sale to foreign markets of nearly 90,000 tons a year, with almost half of it going
D. selling nearly 90,000 tons a year to foreign markets, and almost half of it goes
E. selling nearly 90,000 tons a year to foreign markets, with almost half going

I was stuck between option D and E and then chose E over D because of pronoun 'it' in option D.
Can someone please clarify if 'it' in option D refers to
1. Argentina or honey.
2. Or does 'it' refer to only 'Argentina'
3.or 'it' has no referent in the sentence

Thanks
gmatrant
A kudos or thanks would do great if my answer has helped you :)
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by MakeUrTimeCount » Thu Feb 02, 2012 12:58 pm
it clearly refers to Honey. Argentina can't go anywhere.

In E, going makes it present countinous and provides a meaning that "Honey is going ..."

In case, you have some doubt about usage of 'with' in E. Please refer to following thread:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/comma-with-e ... 85064.html

Hope it helps :)

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