tenses

[Hanka]

Hi,

could you please check the tenses in the following text:

After our return on the same day, I initiated a complaint procedure during which several faults on various parts were discovered. The complaint was further dealt with by Mrs. XX from the complaints department of company YY in London. After several months, I received a statement that company ZZ had announced the cancelled flight on November 28, 2005, which means that it fulfilled its obligation. Mrs. XX further stated that all problems were attributable to the dealer, company AAA. According to her, its office was closed due to public holiday. Therefore I referred the whole matter to my legal representative with a view to claim compensation from the above-mentioned company. But when I addressed to Mr. BBB from the company AAA, I obtained his written statement. Amongst others, he strictly denies that the office of the company was closed. He even states that he was present at the counter at the airport and that the information on the cancelled flight was not published in the system.

Thank you very much.

Hanka

[JSmiley]

Hello again Hanka!

I have made some TINY changes that werent to do do with tense, but only for clarity, not for style. Great work so far. I hope you make those bastards pay!

"...faults on various parts..." << do you mean various people or various items? My edit assumes various people (parties).

Key:
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could you please check the tenses in the following text:
After our return on the same day, I initiated a complaint procedure during which several faults by various parties were discovered. The complaint was further dealt with by Mrs. XX from the complaints department of company YY in London. After several months, I received a statement that company ZZ had announced the cancelled flight on November 28, 2005, which means that it had fulfilled its obligation. Mrs. XX further stated that all problems were attributable to the dealer, company AAA. According to her, its office had been closed due to public holiday. Therefore I referred the whole matter to my legal representative with a view to claim compensation from the above-mentioned company. But when I addressed to Mr. BBB from the company AAA, I obtained his written statement. Amongst others things, he strictly denies that the office of the company was closed. He even states that he had been present at the counter at the airport and that the information on the cancelled flight had not been published in the system at the time.

[Hanka]

Thanks for great help JSmiley. Actually, it is not my claim for compensation. I am just translating a text for someone else. But could you please explain, why did you use simple past in "strictly denies that the office of the company was closed" and past perfect in "He even states that he had been present at the counter"?

Thank you very much.

Hanka

[JSmiley]

good question!

Earlier in the paragraph we defined a time when the office had been closed. Now in that can be called a simple past, because we know when it was closed. In the time when it was closed, we use a past perfect (continuous) to show his active presence at the desk, when he had been (working) at the counter.

caveat: the last part could be past simple and still understandable. This is especially true if you include the phrase "at the time." Without the included phrase, you should really be in the past perfect (remember that it is really continuous as well).