Veritas Prep Official Explanation

In this problem, notice the function of the phrase “Last year” to set up a time line. It is illogical that, all in the last year, the earliest settlers to the community built houses and those houses were subsequently destroyed in a fire.

Answer choices D and E, just by leading with that entire-sentence modifier “Last year,” begin to fail the logical time line test.

And answer choices C and D both use the ongoing tense “have been,” putting the building of the homes (by early settlers, nonetheless) after the fire that burned them down! That time line is even more nonsensical. Only answer choices A and B construct a logical time line using the phrasing:

The homes were ruined in the fire and the homes had been built by early settlers.

So what’s the difference? Verb tense conveys meaning but so do conjunctions (more to come on this in the Sentence Construction section!). Does it make sense to say that a home can be both destroyed and structurally compromised? If it is destroyed, then it is necessarily compromised, so the conjunction must be “or.” The correct answer choice is B.
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IMO, The answer is B. If I am wrong, kindly explain. Thank you.

Explanation:

A and C are out because homes can be either destroyed or structurally compromised but not both at the same time. So, 'or' not 'and'.
Option B sounded more direct and to the point, compared to D and E.

yeah, in E "last year" should modify the fire

Some of the homes that were destroyed and structurally compromised in the fire last year had been built by the community’s earliest settlers.


(A) Some of the homes that were destroyed and structurally compromised in the fire last year had been
Incorrect. Cant be destroyed and structurally compromised
(B) Some of the homes that were destroyed or structurally compromised in the fire last year had been
Correct
(C) Some of the homes that the fire destroyed and structurally compromised last year have been
See A
(D) Last year the fire destroyed or structurally compromised some of the homes that have been
Incorrect. Must be had been
(E) Last year some of the homes that were destroyed or structurally compromised in the fire had been
Changes meaning. Incorrect