Final answer:
The disadvantages of a partnership include unlimited personal liability and unlimited life, which refers to each partner being fully responsible for the business's debts and the partnership potentially dissolving upon a partner's exit or death. The correct answer is b) Unlimited; Unlimited.
Step-by-step explanation:
The correct answer to the question regarding the four significant disadvantages of a partnership is b) Unlimited; Unlimited. This implies that partners in a general partnership are subject to unlimited personal liability, and the partnership has an unlimited life in the sense that it can end with the exit or death of a partner. Additionally, partnerships often face difficulty when trying to transfer ownership and raise large amounts of capital.
In the context of this question, unlimited personal liability means that each partner can be held responsible for all of the partnership's debts and can potentially lose personal assets in a bankruptcy or lawsuit. An unlimited life refers to the fact that a partnership does not have a continuous life; it can be dissolved with the withdrawal or death of any partner, thus making the partnership structure less stable than corporations. It is important to note that while this describes a general partnership, there are other forms of partnerships, like limited partnerships or limited liability partnerships (LLPs), where liability or the continuity elements may differ.