usage of it

[bsandhyav]

Hi guyz

Just realizaed i'm having a consistent problem in recognizing which noun 'it' refers to in a sentence if there are 2 or more nouns preceeding it especially one after the other very closely.

Any rule which states the referrant of 'it' clearly???

For example :

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.

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

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

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

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

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

In the above sentence i eliminated B 'coz i thought 'it' refers to company's products and it is not the company's products that have short and long term goals but the company's manger who has short and long term goals.

Plz clear out this concept for me!!!

[bsandhyav]

On seconds thoughts....seems like it does refer to company's products only......Phoof!!!!! I need help

[hwiya320]

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.

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

I would pick B for this problem because first of all, you have to think about who is applying optimization techniques?

original sentence, IT is vague and same for C and D.

B and E both starts off with managers, but I picked B since they are in parallel structure as you've highlighted in your post.

[niraj_a]

id pick E between B and E because in B, it should refer to company but that noun is not mentioned anywhere (this is the 'company's' trap)

[iamcste]

Hi guyz

Just realizaed i'm having a consistent problem in recognizing which noun 'it' refers to in a sentence if there are 2 or more nouns preceeding it especially one after the other very closely.

Any rule which states the referrant of 'it' clearly???

For example :

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.

Pronoun: It and Its

First "It" is a dummy one...

second "Its" --shortlist possible antecedents

Products, company, manager


Crtieria 1

Manager is eliminated as it cannot refer to a person but can refer to a team or a group or a company as a whole

Criteria 2

Pls note: Possessive form of the company

For a Possessive noun, we need a possessive antecedent


so eliminate products and manager

Its refer to the "company" and hence "its" has a unique and logically correct antecedent and agrees in number and case



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

Just one It, first one and is dummy

e.g. Its a sunny day
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



Its

Manager, Company and product

same as above. Refers to company
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



Same as above
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

Pronouns: It, These

These is a demonstrative pronoun and more used like a adj

here it qualifies products

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

No pronoun


In the above sentence i eliminated B 'coz i thought 'it' refers to company's products and it is not the company's products that have short and long term goals but the company's manger who has short and long term goals.

Plz clear out this concept for me!!!

Also, the sentence starts with "By applying Optimiztation techniques..."

Opening modifier must quality who applied...Manager applied

hence, first eliminate all statments starting with something other than manager and then see pronoun issue, to save time

Also, Pronouns are first are your greatest weaknesses and if you focus, they can become your greatest asset

One more thing: If you still get stuck, problem has atleast 2 to 3 major issues, capitalize on one of those

Bye, iamcste

[NehaBhandari]

can someone post the OA for this plz...

[reachac]

Should be B.

[ronniecoleman]

please guys!

Post your reasoning for the answers..

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

[logitech]

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.

[sudhir3127]

Hi guyz

Just realizaed i'm having a consistent problem in recognizing which noun 'it' refers to in a sentence if there are 2 or more nouns preceeding it especially one after the other very closely.

Any rule which states the referrant of 'it' clearly???

For example :

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.

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

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

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

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

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

In the above sentence i eliminated B 'coz i thought 'it' refers to company's products and it is not the company's products that have short and long term goals but the company's manger who has short and long term goals.

Plz clear out this concept for me!!!

I go wit B as well

By applying optimization techinques............ who applies ?........ manager

So left with B and D

D is wordy , awkward ...manager at a company Vs company's manager

Hence B

[logitech]

Hi guyz

Just realizaed i'm having a consistent problem in recognizing which noun 'it' refers to in a sentence if there are 2 or more nouns preceeding it especially one after the other very closely.

Any rule which states the referrant of 'it' clearly???

For example :

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.

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

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

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

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

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

In the above sentence i eliminated B 'coz i thought 'it' refers to company's products and it is not the company's products that have short and long term goals but the company's manger who has short and long term goals.

Plz clear out this concept for me!!!

I go wit B as well

By applying optimization techinques............ who applies ?........ manager

So left with B and D

D is wordy , awkward ...manager at a company Vs company's manager

Hence B

Sudhir did you mean B and E ?

And I eliminated E because of THESE.

Any comments ?

[sudhir3127]

Hi guyz

Just realizaed i'm having a consistent problem in recognizing which noun 'it' refers to in a sentence if there are 2 or more nouns preceeding it especially one after the other very closely.

Any rule which states the referrant of 'it' clearly???

For example :

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.

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

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

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

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

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

In the above sentence i eliminated B 'coz i thought 'it' refers to company's products and it is not the company's products that have short and long term goals but the company's manger who has short and long term goals.

Plz clear out this concept for me!!!

I go wit B as well

By applying optimization techinques............ who applies ?........ manager

So left with B and D

D is wordy , awkward ...manager at a company Vs company's manager

Hence B

Sudhir did you mean B and E ?

And I eliminated E because of THESE.

Any comments ?

hey logitech .. sorie abt the typo its so confusing to scroll up and answer particularly when options are not numbered.. yes i meant B and E

In E i don tthink "These" is a problem .. these refers properly to the Products..

As i said i found E to be wordy ..

E says " managers at a company"
B says companys manager.. which clearly is precise.

[logitech]

In E i don tthink "These" is a problem .. these refers properly to the Products..

As i said i found E to be wordy ..

E says " managers at the company"
B says companys manager.. which clearly is precise.

Well I don't think so..

THESE PRODUCTS does not mean anything to me.

E.g. I like these questions. Which questions ?

The verb also changes at E. Let's see what other people think about how they eliminated E.

Thank you!

[iamcste]

well E is full of errors

1. Idiomatic usage


Both X and Y ; X -Y parallel

In case of E, X and Y are not parallel

2. "to be" is form of "being" and wordy on GMAT

3. "These " is used correctly but doesnt have an antecedent


so E can be safely eliminated


Many think "its" in B to be ambigiuous, thats not the case

Choose B

[reachac]

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’