Announcing that one of its key successes had been the recent well-received beta launch, the Internet startup claimed it would introduce several new products to the web community during the next quarter.

A: ...
B: its key successes has been the recently
C: its key successes is the recently
D: their key successes is the recent
E: their key successes had been the recent

D and E are out for using plural "their"
Between A, B, and C;
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As pointed out,eliminate d,e for the usage of their.Here the usage of recently(adverb) is inappropriate over recent.reread the sentence,"its key successes is the recently"-Eliminate C.Hence A.

RECENT vs RECENTLY

here recent is modifying the noun beta-launch (when was the launch-- ans: recent). Recently is an adverb which should modify an adjective. RECENT is correct.
So A is correct

what if we had the sentence like its key successes has been the recent
IS that correct..

All i am trying to say is it wrong to use present perfect here

....the internet startup claimed....
from here, we can infer that the tense has to be past.
B-"has been" is present tense, so eliminate
C-"is " is also present tense,so eliminate
what is left is A

I arrived at the answer without even considering recent/recently. Sometimes we get so hung up one one word that we forget to use other methods to arrive at the correct answer.

i share your sentiments on (2); however, experts opinions are welcome.
Source: Grockit.com
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hirendhanak: I am assuming that you are also looking for the difference between A, B and C.

The key point here is that we will use past perfect in this sentence: one of its key successes had been not has been or is.
The reason is that 'beta launch is an event that took place and was a success before the Internet start up announced it'. The verb 'claimed' shows you that it happened in the past, hence an event further in the past will need to use past perfect.
To review, we use past perfect tense when 2 events take place in the past but one takes place before the other. Here, beta launch became a success before the company claimed it would introduce several new products. So it uses past perfect.

'recent well-received beta launch' is correct. Here recent and well-received form a pair of cumulative adjectives.

There are two types of adjectives: Cumulative and Co-ordinate

Cumulative adjectives - An adjective is “cumulative” when it occurs in a pair or series with other adjectives of different descriptive categories, the adjectives building upon each other and together modifying the noun.
e.g. a big old shaggy dog
big - size
old - age
shaggy - quality

Co-ordinate adjectives - An adjective used in a pair or series with other adjectives within its own descriptive category to describe the same noun. Coordinate adjectives are separated by commas.

I am always impressed by your honest, insightful remarks.

honest - quality
insightful - quality
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