Question: The MBA (1) is hardly a prerequisite for success, but it (2) certainly helps (3), and it has been getting more important (4) in recent years. Most (5) MBA programs equip their graduates to understand how (6) to deal with many of the important questions that their organizations will need to tackle (7) over time, and (8) that they will face in their careers.
The above italicized numbered words will be correctly represented by the following parts of speech:
The first word “MBA” refers to a course and can be classified as a noun.
The word “it” is a pronoun that refers to MBA.
The third word “helps” refers to an action and can hence be termed as a verb. This eliminates options 1 and 2.
The word “important” acts an adjective that describes the need for an MBA qualification. This eliminates option 4.
The word “how” describes the action of dealing with many of the important organizational and career issues, making it an adverb.
The word “tackle” implies the action of dealing with issues and hence, can be classified as a verb. This eliminates option 3.
“And” is a conjunction that joins two or more clauses. This vindicates option 5.
Hence, the correct answer is option 5.