Sentence Correction

As the prairies of the Midwest dried up because of drought and over- farming, many settlers of the time where land was barren and homes had been seized in foreclosure moved further westward in search of food and employment.
(A) where land was barren and homes
(B) where their land was barren and their homes
(C) with more barren land and homes that
(D) whose land was barren and whose homes
(E) having barren land and homes that

Source- Kap
OA - D

i like D

IMO D too .

I think the answer is E
because the sentence says settles of the time
which is plural and so i have doubt if whose can refer to plural subjects

guys i appreciate the replies. can i have some more productive discussion on this. Some more explanations and reasoning would help.

As the prairies of the Midwest dried up due to drought and over- farming, many settles of the time where land was barren and homes had been seized in foreclosure moved further westward in search of food and employment.
(A) where land was barren and homes
(B) where their land was barren and their homes
(C) with more barren land and homes that
(D) whose land was barren and whose homes
(E) having barren land and homes that

Firstly, Where is wrong here because where will modify places, area etc....

So A,B are Gone

C and E are wrong because of the Word THAT , means that had been seized in foreclosure moved further westward in search of food and employment.

So only option left is D and which is the correct answer....

I think we could also have a small discussion on how whose usuage is justified ????

whether we have to take it since it is left out? or this usuage is correct?

Before that i think we should know the OA id D or not??? Wont we?

and why do you think "that" is incorrect here and that too in both C and E??

(A) where land was barren and homes
(B) where their land was barren and their homes
(C) with more barren land and homes that -- I feel use of with awkward here
(D) whose land was barren and whose homes
(E) having barren land and homes that -- It can be split as having barren land and having homes that had been seized in foreclosure moved further westward in search of food and employment. -- Here it seems as if homes moved further and not the settlers .

i need to seek an expert advice re the sentence itself

force5 wrote:As the prairies of the Midwest dried up due to drought and over- farming, many settles of the time where land was barren and homes had been seized in foreclosure moved further westward in search of food and employment.
...
Source- Kap
OA - to follow

IMO - D. Settles - should be assumed as people who settled in that region.

Guys m confused as m not able to understand the meaning of this phrase "many settles of the time"

i mean...settle is a verb, so many settles of time, what does this mean????

@Clock and @AIM

a question for you as you voted for Op D....pronoun WHO refers to persons only and pronoun WHOSE is a possessive case of WHO...so my question: Can we say WHOSE refer to this phrase "many settles of the time" which doesn't contain any person??? please clear..m i missing something???

@force:-- can you please, u sure there is no typo error.

Finally, though this question can not appear on GMAT as it contains that error due to...but still if i have to select then i find Op E better than others

+1 for E

@ Ron - Thanks bro for clearing the doubt. I know we don't talk much about the non underlined part but i felt it was wrong.

@ Atulmangal- bro apologies for the typo. I did check the question before posting but the word just slipped. I have edited the post. i am also editing "due to" from the original post.
lets try to answer it now.

I'm sorry for the inconvenience guys!!

force5 wrote: @ Atulmangal- bro apologies for the typo. I did check the question before posting but the word just slipped. I have edited the post. i am also editing "due to" from the original post.
lets try to answer it now.

I'm sorry for the inconvenience guys!!

@force

Yes, that's what i was thinking, now this question makes sense, thanks for editing and putting the correct question now...

Op D seems more tempting now as PRONOUN WHOSE can refer to many settlers logically...and more clear except, i didn't understand the use of tenses in this Op D...land was barren and houses had been seized...and finally settlers moved...
seems like houses seized first then land barren and simultaneously settlers moved..i believe the past perfect should be attached to both LAND and HOUSES and then simple PAST Tense, as its there for settlers moved..

for Op E, if there is a comma before having and another comma after foreclosure...i would pick this Op but as its not there this Op seems unclear...

Hence i pick Op D, though m not fully convinced with the tense thing...i edited this post a no of times...

Whats the OA please reveal..as m really curious to know now...thanks

Guys i have updated the OA.

@atulmangal- can you please explain this... i'm having a hard time understanding what difference will it make if i set the phrase off by 2 comma's.

for Op E, if there is a comma before having and another comma after foreclosure...i would pick this Op but as its not there this Op seems unclear..

apart from the comma problem i feel E is much better a choice than D.