My grandfather passed away two years ago.

Answer: C. “It’s been two years since my grandfather passed away.”

The given sentence roughly translates as: “My grandfather passed away two years ago.” This sentence uses the past simple to describe an action that happened in the past (with a definite time of 2 years ago).

The similar structure to express the given sentence is “It’s been + period of time + since + S + V (simple past)”. In this case, the sentence “It’s been two years since my grandfather passed away.” is most appropriate in meaning and context.

– The sentence “My grandfather passed away last year” gives information about a different time from the original sentence (last year # two years ago).

⇒ is not appropriate.

– The sentence “My grandfather is still alive” has a different meaning from the original sentence “is still alive >

⇒ is not appropriate.

– The sentence “My grandfather had passed away before 2016”: verb conjugated in the past perfect tense, describing actions that happened before a definite time in the past; furthermore the time “2016” is not related to the time mentioned in the original sentence “two years ago”

⇒ is not close to the original sentence.