Godinez: In the past, land was sometimes measured by the amount of time required to plow it. Thus, two plots of equal...

Kanyin on July 14, 2019

hello?

Irina on July 15, 2019

Let's look at the structure of the passage.

Premise: In the past, land was sometimes measured by the amount of time required to plow it.
Sub-conclusion: Thus, two plots of equal physical dimensions were considered unequal if one was more difficult to plow than the other.
Premise: However, knowing how long an area takes to plow reveals little about how many apartment complexes can it hold.
Main conclusion: Therefore, it became necessary to adopt new measures of land, such as acreage, when land uses diversified.

The correct answer choice E is a paraphrase of the main conclusion. The problem with the answer choice D "Modern measures of land were adopted when people realized that plowing time was an inadequate measure for some land uses" is that it is too specific. The main conclusion only says that it became necessary to adopt new measures when land uses diversified, which is not necessarily the same as "when people realized that plowing time was an inadequate measure." People might have realized that the plowing time would be inadequate for other uses much earlier but did not actually have any need to adopt new measures of land until alternative land uses became more common.

Let me know if this makes sense.