past simple or past perect - which one is correct here
Hello,
I need some help with the following two lines.
"By the end of 2011, the area of the Energy-Efficient Buildings had totaled up to ____ million square meters, the scale of which had ranked the top of the country. Accounting for ____% of the total area of buildings in the country, the area of the Energy-Efficient Buildings had been much higher than the national level."
The above lines are a part of a presentation. According to this video past perfect is used in reported speech. But I am confused about whether it is OK to use "had ranked" / "had been" here, or should it be past simple - "ranked" / "were".
Please note: I have asked a different question regarding the above lines here. The question is about the usage of 'top of the country' or 'top in the country'. I hope it is OK to post these as two separate posts. If not, please close this and I will include this question in the earlier post.
Thank you
Re: past simple or past perect - which one is correct here
Hello,
Can someone please help with this one?
Thank you
Re: past simple or past perect - which one is correct here
There are issues with the whole thing.
What does this mean? the scale of which had ranked the top of the country]
What does this mean? the area of the Energy-Efficient Buildings had been much higher than the national level - higher than what?
Do you mean energy-efficient new construction compared to normal new construction? You can't be comparing it to all buildings in the entire city, can you?
As for the sentences, I can't see a need for past perfect, but without knowing what you mean to say, it's hard to correct.
If this is a presentation (i.e., a PowerPoint-type slide), these sentences are way too long.
Re: past simple or past perect - which one is correct here
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Barb_D 
There are issues with the whole thing.
What does this mean? the scale of which had ranked the top of the country]
What does this mean? the area of the Energy-Efficient Buildings had been much higher than the national level - higher than what?
Do you mean energy-efficient new construction compared to normal new construction? You can't be comparing it to all buildings in the entire city, can you?
As for the sentences, I can't see a need for past perfect, but without knowing what you mean to say, it's hard to correct.
If this is a presentation (i.e., a PowerPoint-type slide), these sentences are way too long.
Barb_D, thank you for responding. This is a translation by someone and I was helping in proofreading it. So I am not very clear about the intended meaning.
I am not quite sure about the 'scale of' part.
>Do you mean energy-efficient new construction compared to normal new construction?
I think this is the intended meaning.
Thank you regarding your feedback about long sentences. I don't know if this is a PPT presentation or some kind of report.
