brothers wrote:
Puritan fanatics brought to civil and military affairs a coolness of judgment and mutability of purpose that some writers have thought inconsistent with their religious zeal, but which was in fact a natural outgrowth of it.
(A) but which was in fact a natural outgrowth of it
(B) but which were in fact a natural outgrowth of it
(C) but which were in fact natural outgrowths of it
(D) but it was in fact a natural outgrowth of them
(E) which was in fact a natural outgrowth of it
(C) is the correct answer
(A) incorrectly uses the singular verb "was" to refer to plural subject "a coolness of judgment and a mutability of purpose."
(B) incorrectly uses the singular "natural outgrowth"; however, the sentence needs "natural outgrowths" to match the plural subject.
(C) is the correct answer.
(D) uses an ambiguous pronoun "it" which appears to refer, incorrectly, to religious zeal. (D) suggests that the religious zeal was an outgrowth of the coolness of judgment and mutability of purpose, thereby distorting the sentence's meaning.
(E) lacks the conjunction "but"; therefore, "which" refers to the religious zeal, creating a meaning distortion by suggesting that the religious zeal was an outgrowth of the coolness of judgment and mutability of purpose (incorrectly referred to with pronoun "it," rather than "them").