12 Days of Christmas GMAT Competition - Day 11: In recent years, many

Experts' Global Official Explanation

Parallelism + Grammatical Construction + Meaning + Redundancy/Awkwardness

Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of the crucial part of this sentence is that prominent consumer goods retailers have increasingly invested in Mandarin-language marketing, partly for the purpose of acquiring new customers for their Chinese branches.

• Any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel.
• “should” is used to convey a sense of obligation/desirability.

A. This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “should acquire new customers”; the use of the word “should” incorrectly implies that prominent consumer goods retailers have increasingly invested in Mandarin-language marketing partly because it is necessary/desirable that their Chinese branches acquire new customers; the intended meaning is that prominent consumer goods retailers have increasingly invested in Mandarin-language marketing partly for the purpose of acquiring new customers for their Chinese branches. Further, Option A fails to maintain parallelism between “in part their…” and “partly because…”; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel. Additionally, Option A uses the needlessly wordy phrase “in part that”, leading to awkwardness.

B. This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between “in part for the…” and “partly because…”; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel. Further, Option B uses the needlessly wordy phrase “in part for the acquisition of”, leading to awkwardness.

C. This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “partly because of their Chinese branches acquiring new customers”; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that consumer goods retailers have increasingly invested in Mandarin-language marketing partly because their Chinese branches have already acquired new customers; the intended meaning is that prominent consumer goods retailers have increasingly invested in Mandarin-language marketing partly for the purpose of acquiring new customers for their Chinese branches.

D. Correct. This answer choice uses the phrase “partly to acquire new customers…”, conveying the intended meaning- that prominent consumer goods retailers have increasingly invested in Mandarin-language marketing partly for the purpose of acquiring new customers for their Chinese branches. Further, Option D maintains parallelism between “partly to acquire…” and “partly because…”. Additionally, Option D is free of awkwardness and redundancy.

E. Trap. This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “new customers should be acquired”; the use of the word “should” incorrectly implies that prominent consumer goods retailers have increasingly invested in Mandarin-language marketing partly because it is necessary/desirable that their Chinese branches acquire new customers; the intended meaning is that prominent consumer goods retailers have increasingly invested in Mandarin-language marketing partly for the purpose of acquiring new customers for their Chinese branches. Further, Option E uses the passive voice construction “new customers should be acquired”, rendering it needlessly indirect and wordy.

D is the best answer choice.