By 2018, after studying the art and benefits of plant-based cooking, t

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By 2018, after studying the art and benefits of plant-based cooking, the chef decided to cook slowly marinated vegetables, with many of the restaurant’s guests who consume his food often commenting on how tender and delicious the vegetables are.

(A) decided to cook slowly marinated vegetables, with many of the restaurant’s guests who consume his food often commenting

Since the chef’s deciding to cook marinated vegetables is an action that was completed by a point in time in the past, 2018, the use of the simple past “decided” is not correct. The past perfect “had decided” should be used.

Also, since “slowly” appears between “cook” and “marinated,” whether “slowly” is meant to modify “cook” or “marinated” is not clear.

Also, the use of “with” is not ideal, as it results in the sentence’s seeming to convey that the chef cooked with the guests.

Also, since “often” appears between “consume his food” and “commenting,” whether “often” is meant to modify “consume” or “commenting” is not clear.

(B) had decided to cook marinated vegetables slowly, resulting in many of the restaurant’s guests consuming his food who often commented

In this version, the past perfect “had decided” is correctly used in expressing that the chef’s deciding occurred before a point in time in the past, 2018. However, we have to be careful to go beyond checking the tense and check the meaning conveyed. In doing so, we see that this choice conveys the nonsensical meaning that, by deciding to cook marinated vegetables, the chef resulted in many guests.

Incorrect Answer

(C) has decided to cook marinated vegetables slowly, and many of the restaurant’s guests consuming his food often commented

The use of “has decided,” which is in the present perfect tense, which is meant to connect the past to the present, does not make sense in this situation, in which the sentence indicates that the chef’s deciding occurred by a point in time in the past, 2018. The past perfect “had decided” should be used instead.

Also, since “often” appears between “consuming his food” and “commented,” whether “often” is meant to modify “consuming” or “commented” is not clear.

(D) had decided to cook marinated vegetables slowly, and many of the restaurant’s guests who consume his food comment often

The past perfect “had decided” is correctly used in expressing that the chef’s deciding occurred before a point in time in the past, 2018.

Also, the adverbs “slowly” and “often” are placed so as to clearly modify “cook” and “comment,” and this version conveys a meaning that makes sense.

Correct Answer

(E) decided slowly to cook marinated vegetables with many of the restaurant’s guests who often consumed his food commenting

Since the chef’s deciding to cook marinated vegetables is an action that was completed by a point in time in the past, 2018, the use of the simple past “decided” is not correct. The past perfect “had decided” should be used.

Also, the use of “with” is not ideal, as it results in the sentence’s seeming to convey that the chef cooked with the guests.

Correct answer: D

Which of the below is correct , and why ?
1. By last summer ,We had visited Paris .
2. By last summer ,We visited Paris .

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