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it's/its

by Katrusya » Tue May 26, 2009 3:52 pm
The goverment's failing to keep it's pledges will earn the distrust of all other nations in the alliance.
A. goverment's failing to keep it's pledges
B. goverment failing to keep it's pledges
C. goverment's failing to keep its pledges
D. goverment failing to keep its pledges
E. goverments failing to keep their pledges

I pick E, but the answer is C
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by marshmallow » Tue May 26, 2009 4:58 pm
I assume the error with E is that if you want to use the plural form, you should at least say "the governments' ", while here it is actually not necessary to use the plural form of government.
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by Katrusya » Tue May 26, 2009 5:06 pm
"The" is there before underlined part of the sentence.

I can't get the right answer.
goverment's failing to keep its pledges ..I feel as though "its" here refers to "failing" but not to "goverment".However, I understand that these are goverment's pledges, not failing's ones))
From my point of view, E fixes this ambiguity.
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by Mayur Sand » Tue May 26, 2009 6:11 pm
In (C) "its" only refers to governments and nothing else ,but i am still confused between "its" vs "their", what are exact conditions when each of them is to be used . Please explain
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by mbadrew » Tue May 26, 2009 6:21 pm
Mayur Sand wrote:In (C) "its" only refers to governments and nothing else ,but i am still confused between "its" vs "their", what are exact conditions when each of them is to be used . Please explain
its = singular

their = plural

If there were many governments or many differnt countries or municipalities, then you can use their. However, in this case, "government's" is sigular and therefore, requires a singular pronoun, which is its.

Please note that in choice C it's clearly written government's and not governments. Please read carefully.
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by mbadrew » Tue May 26, 2009 6:25 pm
Katrusya wrote:"The" is there before underlined part of the sentence.

I can't get the right answer.
goverment's failing to keep its pledges ..I feel as though "its" here refers to "failing" but not to "goverment".However, I understand that these are goverment's pledges, not failing's ones))
From my point of view, E fixes this ambiguity.
The refers to failings and not pledges. So there's no ambiguity. E is absolutely the wrong choice. This question is testing your ability to identify pronoun error. So, focus on the pronoun, which is it's Vs its. It's = it is; and its = is used as a pronoun for singular subjects.
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by gmat740 » Tue May 26, 2009 7:35 pm
I would like to give my 2 cents to this problem

it's = it is

its = possessive form of it

(possessive form of he = his)
goverment's failing to keep it's pledges
Since government requires a possessive form, so its suits here in this case

Hope this helps
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by rameshthammanna » Tue May 26, 2009 10:28 pm
If (C) is the answer then it should have been as -

The goverment's failure to keep its pledges will earn the distrust of all other nations in the alliance.

I feel the answer should be (D). Can somebody explain?

What is the explanation given in the for the (D) in the book?
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by dumb.doofus » Tue May 26, 2009 10:51 pm
I think C is correct here..

"The government's failing" is the noun here.. or what we call the gerund form.. and it is the subject of the preposition "to"..

Its is a possessive pronoun meaning, more or less, of it or belonging to it.

So the correct usage is of its here and not it's which is the contraction of it is.

so only C is correct here..
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by rookiez » Wed May 27, 2009 4:14 am
What's wrong with "D" here?

What's the source and OA...please?
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by Katrusya » Wed May 27, 2009 6:45 am
The source is Barron's book 15th edition.
Explanation given in the book:
Choice C corrects errors in the possessive form of goverment (needed before a verbal noun) and it
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by Katrusya » Wed May 27, 2009 6:51 am
mbadrew wrote:
Katrusya wrote:"The" is there before underlined part of the sentence.

I can't get the right answer.
goverment's failing to keep its pledges ..I feel as though "its" here refers to "failing" but not to "goverment".However, I understand that these are goverment's pledges, not failing's ones))
From my point of view, E fixes this ambiguity.
The refers to failings and not pledges. So there's no ambiguity. E is absolutely the wrong choice. This question is testing your ability to identify pronoun error. So, focus on the pronoun, which is it's Vs its. It's = it is; and its = is used as a pronoun for singular subjects.
I have been talking about choice E and why it's wrong. Marshmallow suggested that plural GOVERMENTS requiers THE. My answer was that there is THE in the beginning of the sentence. THE has nothing to do with pledges and I didn't doubt it. That's not the case. Please, read carefully.
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by Katrusya » Wed May 27, 2009 6:56 am
I do understand the difference between its and their.
But why E is wrong?
The goverments failling to keep their pledges...
Isn't it grammaticaly correct? Their refers to goverments, failing is gerund that modifies goverments...

Please, explain.
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by mbadrew » Wed May 27, 2009 9:03 am
Katrusya wrote:I do understand the difference between its and their.
But why E is wrong?
The goverments failling to keep their pledges...
Isn't it grammaticaly correct? Their refers to goverments, failing is gerund that modifies goverments...

Please, explain.
E-- changes the entire sentence from singular "government's" to plural "governments". In GMAT you can't do that. It's a big NO NO.

Remember that part of analyzing an answer choice is to make sure that it doesn't change the original construction of the sentence. And by that I mean there should be no chane in the subject. If the sentence talks about an apple then you can't assume that a basket of apples is the same thing.

I hope this clarifies things.
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by LifetimesofSC » Thu May 28, 2009 3:47 pm
C

Government's & its

possessive form


Open shut case.
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