Britain's economic growth was slower in the mid-1970's

[aditya8062]

Britain's economic growth was slower in the mid-1970's and its decline much more rapid in the subsequent recession than the United States.
A. Britain's economic growth was slower in the mid-1970's and its decline much more rapid in the subsequent recession than the United States.
B. The economic growth of Britain was slower in the mid-1970's and it declined much more rapidly in the subsequent recession than the United States did.
C. Britain's economy, which grew more slowly in the mid-1970's, also had declined much more rapidly in the subsequent recession than the United States did.
D. The economy of Britain grew more slowly in the mid-1970's and declined much more rapidly in the subsequent recession than did the economy of the United States.
E. Britain's economy grew more slowly in the mid-1970's and its decline was much more rapid during the subsequent recession than the economy of the United States.


my doubt : is option E wrong because of faulty comparison in the second half of the it

E says : Britain's economy grew more slowly in the mid-1970's and its decline was much more rapid during the subsequent recession than the economy of the United States.


my reasoning : by default "its" will refer to "Britain's" so the comparison in the second part becomes: Britain's decline was much more rapid during the subsequent recession than the economy of the United States---->thereby making a faulty comparison between "Britain's decline" and "economy of the United States"

[GMATGuruNY]

my doubt : is option E wrong because of faulty comparison in the second half of the it

E says : Britain's economy grew more slowly in the mid-1970's and its decline was much more rapid during the subsequent recession than the economy of the United States.


my reasoning : by default "its" will refer to "Britain's" so the comparison in the second part becomes: Britain's decline was much more rapid during the subsequent recession than the economy of the United States---->thereby making a faulty comparison between "Britain's decline" and "economy of the United States"

E: Britain's economy grew more slowly in the mid-1970's and its decline was much more rapid during the subsequent recession than the economy of the United States.
Here, the default referent for its is Britain's -- the preceding possessive -- yielding the following faulty comparison:
Britain's decline was much more rapid during the subsequent recession than the economy of the United States [was rapid].
The words in brackets are omitted, but their presence is implied.
Errors:
The DECLINE of Britain cannot be compared to the ECONOMY of the United States.
While E implies that BRITAIN itself declined, the intended meaning seems to be that Britain's ECONOMY declined.
The economy of the United States was rapid conveys a nonsensical meaning.

[aditya8062]

thanks a lot GURU
i want to ask u one more thing : in Manhattan SC guide it is said that "pronouns" cannot refer to nouns that act as adjectives
for example : the park ranger discussed measures to prevent severe wildfires, which could be devastating to it ---->incorrect sentence because "it" should refer to "park", which actually exist as adjective rather than as noun

NOW my concern: is such a rule not there for "possessive pronouns"? because "possessive pronoun" when refer to "possessive nouns" then such "possessive nouns" are actually adjective, as is in the above SC

PS : if u find my question difficult to read out( may be because of my not so clear writing skills) please tell me and i will rephrase it

regards

[GMATGuruNY]

thanks a lot GURU
i want to ask u one more thing : in Manhattan SC guide it is said that "pronouns" cannot refer to nouns that act as adjectives
for example : the park ranger discussed measures to prevent severe wildfires, which could be devastating to it ---->incorrect sentence because "it" should refer to "park", which actually exist as adjective rather than as noun

NOW my concern: is such a rule not there for "possessive pronouns"? because "possessive pronoun" when refer to "possessive nouns" then such "possessive nouns" are actually adjective, as is in the above SC

PS : if u find my question difficult to read out( may be because of my not so clear writing skills) please tell me and i will rephrase it

regards

The park ranger discussed measures to prevent severe wildfires, which could be devastating to it.
Here, park serves not as a noun but as an ADJECTIVE describing the ranger.
The intended referent for it (object pronoun) is the park.
An object pronoun cannot serve to refer to an adjective.
Thus, the sentence above is incorrect.

E: Britain's economy grew more slowly in the mid-1970's and its decline was much more rapid.
Here, its (possessive pronoun) can serve to refer to Britain's (preceding possessive).
The reason is that both the possessive pronoun and the preceding possessive serve as ADJECTIVES.
That said, a reader might wonder whether the intended referent for its is not Britain itself but Britain's ECONOMY.
For this reason, we should look for an answer choice that makes the intended meaning crystal clear.

[aditya8062]

The reason is that both the possessive pronoun and the preceding possessive serve as ADJECTIVES.

thanks for this reason !!

[Elmirahon]

Hi Everyone!

Can you please post the correct answer. My answer is D.

Thank you

Britain's economic growth was slower in the mid-1970's and its decline much more rapid in the subsequent recession than the United States.
A. Britain's economic growth was slower in the mid-1970's and its decline much more rapid in the subsequent recession than the United States.
B. The economic growth of Britain was slower in the mid-1970's and it declined much more rapidly in the subsequent recession than the United States did.
C. Britain's economy, which grew more slowly in the mid-1970's, also had declined much more rapidly in the subsequent recession than the United States did.
D. The economy of Britain grew more slowly in the mid-1970's and declined much more rapidly in the subsequent recession than did the economy of the United States.
E. Britain's economy grew more slowly in the mid-1970's and its decline was much more rapid during the subsequent recession than the economy of the United States.


my doubt : is option E wrong because of faulty comparison in the second half of the it

E says : Britain's economy grew more slowly in the mid-1970's and its decline was much more rapid during the subsequent recession than the economy of the United States.


my reasoning : by default "its" will refer to "Britain's" so the comparison in the second part becomes: Britain's decline was much more rapid during the subsequent recession than the economy of the United States---->thereby making a faulty comparison between "Britain's decline" and "economy of the United States"