reachac wrote:

logitech wrote:

ronniecoleman wrote:please guys!

Post your reasoning for the answers..

@@reachac ( Mr Moderator )
It makes no sense of posting just the answer.

I agree - there is no use of posting your precious IMOs.

Well my post was in response to the request in the post just above mine. My apologies in case it caused any inconvenience to the users.

Here is how I thought 'B' to be the preferred choice

(A) By applying optimization techniques commonly used to plan operations, it is possible to determine how much effort ought to be devoted to each of a company’s products in order to meet its goals in both the short and long terms.
->Use of expletive ‘it’. Does not make it clear as to who would be applying the techniques?
->Both X and Y, where X and Y have the same form is the correct way to use ‘Both’. Here ‘the short’ and ‘long’ are not parallel. It should have been ‘the short’ and ‘the long’

(B) a company’s managers can determine how much effort should be dedicated to each of the company’s products in order to meet its short and long term goals .
->Does away with the expletive ‘it’, using company’s managers instead.
->The use of possessive pronoun ‘its’ has a clear possessive referent i.e.’ company’s’
->Correct Option

(C) it can be determined by company managers how much effort ought to be devoted to each of the company’s products in order to meet its goals, both short and long term
->Expletive ‘it’. Makes the sentence unnecessarily wordy.
->‘company managers how much effort’ awkward sentence structure. Still better could have been to use something like ‘company managers as to how much effort’

(D) it may be possible for company managers to determine how much effort should be dedicated to each of these products in order to meet the company’s short and long term goals
->Use of ‘may’ changes the sense (tone) of the sentence from affirmative to speculative.
->Pronoun ‘these’ has no clear referent.

(E) managers at a company can determine how much effort ought to be dedicated to each of these products in order to meet the company’s goals in both the short and long term
->Pronoun ‘these’ has no clear referent.
->Both X and Y, where X and Y have the same form is the correct way to use ‘Both’. Here ‘the short’ and ‘long’ are not parallel. It should have been ‘the short’ and ‘the long’