In recent years cattle breeders have increasingly used crossbreeding, in part that their steers should acquire certain characteristics and partly because crossbreeding is said to provide hybrid vigor.
A. in part that their steers should acquire certain characteristics
B. in part for the acquisition of certain characteristics in their steers
C. partly because of their steers acquiring certain characteristics
D. partly because certain characteristics should be acquired by their steers
E. partly to acquire certain characteristics in their steers
In-depth Explanation and Correct Answer Below (so you don’t see it while reviewing the question)
In recent years cattle breeders… Explanation
In recent years cattle breeders have increasingly used crossbreeding, in part that their steers should acquire certain characteristics and partly because crossbreeding is said to provide hybrid vigor.
(A) in part that their steers should acquire certain characteristics
Parallelism is off. We want to match “and partly”
(B) in part for the acquisition of certain characteristics in their steers
Parallelism is off. We want to match “and partly”
(C) partly because of their steers acquiring certain characteristics
Meaning is off. Makes it seem as though the cattle already have the characteristics and that is why the cattle breeders are using crossbreeding.
(D) partly because certain characteristics should be acquired by their steers
“Should” doesn’t make a lot of sense. The breeders are doing X in order to get Y result. It’s not: Breeders are doing X because Y should be done.
(E) partly to acquire certain characteristics in their steers
Clearly lays out the reasons why cattle breeders are using crossbreeding. Not perfectly parallel but much better than all of the other choices and the Partly X, Partly Y is strong enough to make a logical connection.
Correct Answer: E
For some SC guidance, here’s a link to a breakdown of GMAT sentence correction.