getgyan wrote:
Marc Murphy, the chef and an owner of the Landmarc restaurants in Manhattan, is roasting turkey breasts in one oven while he braises the legs in the other.
A. the chef and an owner of the Landmarc restaurants in Manhattan, is roasting turkey breasts in one oven while he braises the legs in the other
B. Landmarc restaurants‘ chef and owner in Manhattan, roasts turkey breasts in one oven while braising the legs in another
C. the chef and an owner of the Landmarc restaurants in Manhattan, roast turkey breasts in one oven while braising the leg in another
D. the chef and an owner of the Landmarc restaurants of Manhattan, roasted turkey breasts in one oven while braising the legs in another
E. the chef and an owner of the Landmarc restaurants in Manhattan, roasts turkey breasts in one oven while braising the legs in another
First and foremost, think: what does the sentence convey?
It is telling you that a chef roasts turkey breasts in one oven and turkey legs in another. This is not what people do normally, right? They roast the entire turkey in one oven. The sentence probably wants to tell you that this chef usually roasts his turkey this way.
It is possible that the sentence is telling you that the chef is doing those actions right now or did them some time in the past, but it is a little unlikely. If instead of 'Marc Murphy', you had 'My father' then it would have been more likely.
Anyway, let's look at the options now:
A. the chef and an owner of the Landmarc restaurants in Manhattan, is roasting turkey breasts in one oven while he braises the legs in the other
If 'is roasting' is correct, we are looking for something like 'is roasting turkey breasts in one oven while braising the legs in the other'. If both the actions are taking place right now, you need to use continuous for both.
B. Landmarc restaurants‘ chef and owner in Manhattan, roasts turkey breasts in one oven while braising the legs in another
Is the owner in Manhattan or is the restaurant in Manhattan?
C. the chef and an owner of the Landmarc restaurants in Manhattan, roast turkey breasts in one oven while braising the leg in another
The verb form 'roast' is incorrect since Mark Murphy is singular.
D. the chef and an owner of the Landmarc restaurants of Manhattan, roasted turkey breasts in one oven while braising the legs in another
You can use past continuous and simple past with 'while' but the simple past action must be a short action compared to the past continuous action. e.g. MM popped a peanut in his mouth while roasting the turkey. Normally, 'roasting breasts' and 'braising legs' will come across as long actions. So it isn't very appropriate.
E. the chef and an owner of the Landmarc restaurants in Manhattan, roasts turkey breasts in one oven while braising the legs in another
This makes complete sense. It tells us that the chef does this on a regular basis.