If a single strain of plant is used for a given crop over a wide area

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

• Choice A is faulty because the pronoun it and the appositive a practice each lack a noun referent.

• Nor are there logical referents in choice B for as is and it.

• Choice C entails a false appositive: the sentence now says that the single strain of plant
is itself a practice fostered by modern seed-marketing methods, not that the use of a
single strain is such a practice.

• Choice D reverses the order of the constructions, but the appositive remains illogical.

• Choice E is the best answer: use is the proper subject for the verb increases
and [is also] a governing noun for the appositive practice.

COMMENTS on the OE
This OE is both correct and hard to understand.

Typically, if parts of official explanations are obscure, I address and try to clarify them.
I have decided that we should all take advantage of this forum and this topic.

Understanding when to ignore parts of OEs is important, for example, the word "wordy" without explanation or comparison.
It is just as important to be able to interpret a correct but tersely written OE.

I see an opportunity to address increasingly common subjects in SC, to "unpack" the OE, and to give kudos.

I will post followup challenge questions on this thread —
"challenge" in the sense of "more in depth," though not necessarily in the sense of "really difficult."

COMMENTS on the topic thread
Welcome to GMAT Club, Username8 !

None of these answers is as complete as I would like.

Here is a detail that I like because its author understands how the sentence works:
Wonderwoman31 wrote:

Here is a detail that I like because its author is correct about Option E's superior rhetorical construction:
caljwill wrote:

And here is the detail that I like best because although meaning is not spelled out, it IS captured.
sucal000 wrote:


Best answer is sucal000 - kudos!