Manhattan CAT 6 Verbal

[alejandrosanroman]

Hi,

I took this question from MGMAT CAT 6. I think the question's answer is actually wrong. The correct answer according to the Review is B; however B has the word "its" and in the sentence refers to "company's", which is a possessive noun. I understand that possessive nouns cannot be substituted by prepositions, am I correct? I chose letter E, which I think is also incorrect anyway.

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) 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
(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
(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
(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
(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

Thanks for your help.
Alejandro

[jnelson0612]

Hi Alejandro,
"its" is actually a possessive pronoun, so the replacement of a possessive noun is perfect. For example:

"The house is white and its roof is black."
means the same thing as
"The house is white and the house's roof is black."

Make sense? You would want "its" to stand in for a possessive noun.