请教大全987中的第62题

1.        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（D）     

(E) Following gradually declining

解释：following一般作介词，这里应用连词after, 后面用动名词，故D is correct.

可是我怎么觉得这里明明应该用介词嘛，连词不是要连接一个整句的吗，这里并没有主谓结构呀

D中补全　After （the workweek） gradually declining＝After the workweek gradually declines ，其实就是分词结构修饰主句主语，因主语一样，省

following是可以用的，只是觉得名词形式的　declension down，用得不爽