Bunuel
Bunuel
Residents of affected coastal cities continue to lobby for funds and request supplies to aid them in recovering from oil spills occurring more than a decade ago.
(A) in recovering from oil spills occurring more than a decade ago
(B) to recover from oil spills that had occurred more than a decade ago
(C) in recovery of oil spills that occurred more than a decade ago
(D) in recovering from oil spills having occurred more than a decade ago
(E) in recovering from oil spills that occurred more than a decade ago
KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:
There's nothing overtly wrong with the original sentence so scan the options and look for differences. Compare in recovering from, to recover from, and in recovery of. Considered in the context of the sentence, only the first option is fine, the second is wrong (aid earlier in the sentence needs to be followed by in), and the third is just not idiomatic. (A), (D), and (E) remain, giving you three different options with respect to occurring. You've got the original occurring in (A), of course, having occurred in (D), and that have occurred in (E). (D) is wrong because having should not describe an event that ended ten years ago. (E) is better than (A) because it's more active and avoids the backto-back participles that could create some confusion in (A). (E) remains.
My confusion with regard to the answer choice E is that - 'having occurred' is present perfect tense used for the oil spills that happened in the past (more than a decade ago) but have their effect in the present (on the people). So, why is the answer choice D that uses' having occurred (present perfect tense) wrong?
In this case, why will we use the past tense 'occurred' when it should be present perfect for something that happened in the past but its effects can still be seen in the present?
Please also elaborate on the rule of using present perfect tenses as opposed to simple past tenses.