8a. Since American Idol premiered on television, many talented contestants have appeared on the show.
8b. Since American Idol premiered on television, many talented contestants appeared on the show.
my answer is A. please explain rationale
The construction "have appeared" shows ongoing action, so A is correct.
In sentence B, the verb is "appeared" and indicates that the action is completed.
Thanks
You're welcome.
The correct answer is B, "Since American Idol premiered on television, many talented contestants appeared on the show."
The rationale behind this answer is related to the use of verb tense. In the first part of the sentence, "since American Idol premiered on television," the verb "premiered" is in the past tense because it refers to an event that happened in the past. Similarly, in the second part of the sentence, "many talented contestants appeared on the show," the verb "appeared" is also in the past tense to match the first part of the sentence. This maintains consistency in the sentence and makes it grammatically correct.
On the other hand, in option A, the verb "have appeared" is in the present perfect tense. This tense is used to describe an action that began in the past but is still relevant in the present. However, in this sentence, the action of talented contestants appearing on the show is not ongoing; it happened in the past and is not connected to the present. Therefore, using the present perfect tense "have appeared" is not appropriate here.
In summary, option B is the correct answer because it uses the past tense, which is more suitable for the context of the sentence.