I came across this question in my exercise book:
Initial fears about the compatibility of the program with personal computers have ——— been resolved and the manufacturers have begun production.
(A) soon
(B) since
The correct answer is (B) since. I know have soon been sounds weird but I can't really tell why it is incorrect. Is it because soon implies a specific time in the past so the simple past tense should be used?
Using "since" you mean the following:
Since then / that time, initial fears about the compatibility of the program with personal computers have been resolved and... (we use the present perfect tense in sentences with "since", just like the sentence from your book shows, so it's grammatically correct).
If you choose to use "soon", the tense should be changed (the meaning will be changed too):
Initial fears about the compatibility of the program with personal computers were resolved soon and the manufacturers began production. (now the meaning of "since then" is lost and you are talking about the sequence of 2 past actions).
"Soon" is a non-specific time in the future.
I will eat dinner soon.
So using "soon" in the present perfect clause is wrong, as the present perfect describes the current state resulting from past action.
You could use "have now been resolved", or "have since been resolved", or just "have been resolved". Or you could say "will soon be resolved" or "are going to be resolved soon".
