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Writing & Language
One of the primary shortcomings of the Homestead Act of 1862, a program through which the federal government offered free plots of land to US citizens willing to establish farms in the American West, was that the plots were too small to sustain a farm. Plots in the Great Plains were best left half unplanted each growing season to conserve water. The Great Plains region received twenty or fewer inches of rain per year and was considered semiarid. With farms consisting of a mere 160 acres, however, this practice would not have produced sufficient harvests. Moreover, raising cattle was impossible because the tiny homesteads would quickly become overgrazed. According to geologist and explorer John Wesley Powell, sustainable homesteads on the Great Plains actually needed to be a staggering 2,560 acres.
Which choice most effectively combines the underlined sentences?
A.Receiving twenty or fewer inches of rain per year, land in the Great Plains was best left half unplanted each growing season; the reason for this was to conserve water in this semiarid region.
B.To conserve water, land in the semiarid Great Plains region was best left half unplanted each growing season; consequently, this region received twenty or fewer inches of rain per year.
C.Land in the Great Plains region, being semiarid, was best left half unplanted each growing season to conserve water, and it received twenty or fewer inches of rain per year.
D.Land in the semiarid Great Plains region received twenty or fewer inches of rain per year, so plots there were best left half unplanted each growing season to conserve water.
