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Napoleon's army

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Napoleon's army

by msbelasco » Sun Sep 09, 2012 7:03 am
Although Napoleon's army entered Russia with far more supplies than they had in their previous campaigns, it had provisions for only twenty-four days.

(A) they had in their previous campaigns
(B) their previous campaigns had had
(C) they had for any previous campaign
(D) in their previous campaigns
(E) for any previous campaign

Can someone please explain why one would choose e as the correct answer over A or C . Thanks.
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by vk_vinayak » Sun Sep 09, 2012 9:13 pm
msbelasco wrote:Although Napoleon's army entered Russia with far more supplies than they had in their previous campaigns, it had provisions for only twenty-four days.

(A) they had in their previous campaigns
(B) their previous campaigns had had
(C) they had for any previous campaign
(D) in their previous campaigns
(E) for any previous campaign

Can someone please explain why one would choose e as the correct answer over A or C . Thanks.
The subject of the sentence is Napoleon's army. It is singular. Except E, all other options incorrectly use 'they' or 'their' to refer the singular subject. Hence, by the process of elimination, the answer is E.
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by henryjejo » Sun Sep 09, 2012 9:34 pm
Army is singular and hence needs a singular conjugation.

(A) they had in their previous campaigns (they is plural - incorrect)
(B) their previous campaigns had had (their is plural. Had had is incorrect here. A single "had" would serve the purpose.)
(C) they had for any previous campaign (they is plural - incorrect)
(D) in their previous campaigns (their is plural. The correct possessive reference is "Its" )
(E) for any previous campaign (Correct..."for any" substitutes for "than any of its")

E is correct.
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