Please enlighten me

[alfree]

Hi,

I have 2 questions in mind which are confusing me.

Question 1:

a. John attended "ABC" course which allows him to be more proficient in his work.
b. John attended "ABC" course which has allowed him to be more proficient in his work.

Which is correct? My intention here is to bring across the point that after attending the course, John is able to perform well in his work, now and beyond.

Question 2:

I'm confusing in the tenses used in minutes writing.

John commented that the construction work is/was still in progress. The construction is/was expected to be completed in 2014.

What should be the tenses (is/was) in the 2 sentences?


Thanks in advance!

[bhaisahab]

Hi,

I have 2 questions in mind which are confusing me.

Question 1:

a. John attended "ABC" course which allows him to be more proficient in his work.
b. John attended "ABC" course which has allowed him to be more proficient in his work.

Which is correct? My intention here is to bring across the point that after attending the course, John is able to perform well in his work, now and beyond. I wouldn't use "allow" here, I would use "enable". Either the simple present or the present perfect work IMO.

Question 2:

I'm confused by the tenses used in minutes writing.

John commented that the construction work is/was still in progress. The construction is/was expected to be completed in 2014.

What should be the tenses (is/was) in the 2 sentences? I'd use "was" in the first and "is" in the second.

Thanks in advance!

Bhai.

[5jj]

a. John attended "ABC" course, which allows him to be more proficient in his work.
b. John attended "ABC" course, which has allowed him to be more proficient in his work.

Either is possible; I'd use 'enable' rather than 'allowed'.

John commented that the construction work is still in progress. The construction is expected to be completed in 2014.

I'd use 'noted/reported' rather than 'comented'.

[alfree]

For question 2, i was told that the first sentence is a comment. Therefore, reported speech should be used. Whereas for second sentence, this is a general statement. Therefore, present tense should be used.

Is the above explanation correct?

[5jj]

If the second statement is not a continuation of the reported speech, you should make this clear.

In indirect/reported speech introduced by a reporting verb in a past tense, backshifting is always possible. However, if the situation reported still applies, then the original tenses can be retained.

John: "Construction is still in progress. It is expected to be completed in 2014".

Reported in 2012: John said that construction is/was .... . It is/was expected... .
Reported in 2015: John said that construction was ... . It was expected ... .

[alfree]

Thanks!