Sentence Correction

Less than 35 years after the release of African honeybees outside Sao Paulo, Brazil, their descendents, popular known as killer bees had migrated as far north as Southern Texas.
A. Less than 35 years after the release of African honeybees outside Sao Paulo, Brazil,
B. In less than 35 years since releasing African honeybees outside Sao Paulo, Brazil,
C. In less than the 35 years since African honeybees had been released outside Sao Paulo, Brazil,
D. It took less than 35 years from the release of African honeybees outside Sao Paulo, Brazil, when
E. It took less than 35 years after the time that African honeybees were released outside Sao Paulo, Brazil, and then

OA A

[spoiler]Can any one please explain why C is wrong and how to approach such difficult verb tense questions ? What is the probability to encountering such questions on the actual test ?[/spoiler]

Check my posts here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/explain-the- ... 76191.html
https://www.beatthegmat.com/less-than-35 ... 35089.html

GMATGuruNY wrote:Check my posts here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/explain-the- ... 76191.html
https://www.beatthegmat.com/less-than-35 ... 35089.html

Thanks Mitch.

Per your explanations in both the posts about C as shown below, I am having a hard time understanding the timelines of 1950 and 1985 that you came up with. Not sure how the usage of 'had been released' is making us consider the 1950+35 years situation. Is there a simpler way (as most of your posts do) to crack this one ? Also can you give your thoughts on the usage of 'the 35 years' in option C ?

C: 35 years since African honeybees HAD BEEN RELEASED
If the release of the bees took place on January 1, 1900, then on January 1, 1950, the bees already HAD BEEN RELEASED.
Thus, 35 years since African Honeybees HAD BEEN RELEASED could imply January 1, 1950 + 35 years = January 1, 1985.
Not the intended timeline.
The intended meaning is that the the migration took place LESS THAN 35 YEARS after the release -- sometime BEFORE January 1, 1935.
Eliminate C.

There are actually 3 events that this sentence talks about:

(a) African honeybees were released outside Sao Paulo (say 1950)

(b) 35 years passed since then (between 1950 and 1985)

(c) But, before those 35 years passed (within those years, as indicated by the words less than 35 years), the descendents of African honeybees had migrated as far north as Southern Texas.

However, while (b) and (c) both happened in the past, (c) happened before (b) completed, and hence, (c) should be in past perfect (in this case: had migrated), while (b) should be in simple past (in the current context, the introductory modifier in the original sentence is equivalent to: Less than 35 years after African honeybees were released outside Sao Paulo, Brazil). In fact, this is a classical usage of Past Perfect.

Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses this concept of Past perfect tense, its application and examples in significant detail. In the book, we have provided a similar example:

In 2007, a typical web user spent less than 4 hours a month on Facebook; by 2011, that figure had gone up to 8 hours.

If someone is interested, PM me your email-id, I can mail the corresponding section of the book.

Shazi1711 wrote: Is there a simpler way (as most of your posts do) to crack this one ?

When since serves to convey the passage of time, the following structure is not viable:
since + SUBJECT + PAST PERFECT.
This is sufficient reason to eliminate C.

Also can you give your thoughts on the
usage of 'the 35 years' in option C ?

Do not worry about the usage of the in C.
The GMAT does not test the usage of articles (a, an, the).