"after" and "following"

johncheng

After gradual declension down to about 39 hours in 1970, the workweek in the United States has steadily increased to the point that the average worker now puts in an estimated 164 extra hours of paid labor a year.

(A) After gradual declension down
(B) Following a gradual declension down
(C) After gradual declining down
(D) After gradually declining
(E) Following gradually declining

答案是d， 为什么不是E呢？ after后面是不是只能接一个点，而不是一个渐变的过程？

celinapple

谢谢几位的解答！！

Jarod

这里的after最好理解成时间状语从句的省略形式， 更make sense!

daoying

after是介词, following是现分, 有区别啊.