<p>Jesse passed the California bar examination last year, and he has been practicing law in California ever since.</p>
<p>Why can't it be</p>
<p>Jesse passed the California bar examination last year, and since then is practicing law there.</p>
<p>Thanks .</p>
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<p>The “is” in “is practicing” is in the present tense. You would have to say that Jesse “has been practicing” law, not “is practicing” law.</p>
<p>“is [practicing]” is in the simple present tense, which describes an action in the instant:
He is eating right now.</p>
<p>“has been [practicing]” is in the present perfect progressive tense, which describes an action that began in the past, continues in the present, and may continue into the future:
He has been eating since this morning.</p>
<p>Having fixed the tense, you can certainly say “Jesse passed the California bar examination last year, and since then has been practicing law in California.” because “since then” and “ever since” communicate pretty much the same thing.</p>
<p>However, “since then” and “ever since” may have some differences in a specific context:</p>
<p>When someone says “ever since,” we expect to be given an event, and when someone says “since then,” we expect to have been given a time.</p>
<p>He has changed ever since X happened.
X…in 1999. He has changed since then.</p>
<p>But since an event (“passed the…examination”) and a time period (“last year”) are given, “since then” and “ever since” are interchangeable.</p>
<p>You cannot say “there” because California is being used as an adjective to describe the examination. It is not being used as a place or a noun.</p>