Bunuel
Soon after Hollywood has come to rely on huge special effects blockbusters, smaller so-called independent films started to grow in number and popularity.
A. has come to rely on huge special effects blockbusters, smaller so-called independent films started to grow in number
B. came to have relied on huge special effects blockbusters, smaller so-called independent films are starting to grow in number
C. came to rely on huge special effects blockbusters, smaller so-called independent films start to grow by the number
D. came to rely on huge special effects blockbusters, smaller so-called independent films started to grow in number
E. had come to rely on huge special effects blockbusters, smaller so-called independent films have grown in their numbers
VERITAS PREP OFFICIAL SOLUTION:
As you initially look at this problem, two major clues should signal that you're dealing with Tense and Timeline:
1) The beginning of each answer choice offers a decision between different verb tenses ("has come" vs. "came" vs. "had come")
2) The first few words of the sentence as a whole are time signals ("Soon after")
Your job, then, is to eliminate choices for which the verb tenses offer an incorrect/illogical timeline.
Choice (A) is incorrect because the tenses reverse the order of the events. "has come" connotes an ongoing event (one that started in the past and is ongoing) whereas "started" indicates a completed, past-tense event. This doesn't work with "soon after" - it is illogical to say that "soon after this current event, this past tense event (previously) happened."
Choice (B) similarly includes a tense incompatible with "soon after." "Are starting" connotes an immediately-occurring event, but "soon after" calls for an event either in the past or in the future. To use "are starting" one would need to indicate that immediacy (e.g. "Now, soon after X happened, people are doing Y.")
Choice (C) uses "start," a verb that indicates that this is just something that independent films do all the time (e.g. dogs bark; lawyers litigate...this is just what they do) when the purpose of the sentence is to show that this is an event with a fixed start date and not just "the essence" of these films.
And choice (E) improperly uses the "had come" past-perfect tense: for the past-perfect to be used, it must clearly put that event further back in time from another past-tense event. The only other event in this sentence is "have started" - an ongoing, present event - so past-perfect is incorrect.
Choice (D) conveys a logical timeline: after X happened, Y happened.
(D) is therefore correct.