SC- Honeybees

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SC- Honeybees

by [email protected] » Sun Apr 14, 2013 1:46 am
Less than 35 years after the release of African honeybees outside Sao Paulo, Brazil, their
descendents, popularly 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


opted C as a right answer but A is correct, Please Explain.
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by CSASHISHPANDAY » Sun Apr 14, 2013 9:14 am
Two reasons:

1. There is a subtle meaning difference. "Since" is typically used for ongoing actions, implying that the bees were released 35 years ago and in the time "since" then the migration has occurred. I think this would require the non-underlined main verb to be "have migrated." On the other hand, "after" simply means that whenever the release happened, by 35 years later on the time-line, the migration had already occurred. This justifies the use of the past perfect "had migrated" in the main clause of the sentence.
2. "had been released": passive voice, which could be OK, but we don't really need it here. Generally, stick with active unless you need passive voice, or unless the other choices all have other errors.

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