I have hired a freelancer

[EngLearner]

John hires a freelancer, and he writes a text for him. Then John meets his friend Bob, and says this:

1. I've hired a freelancer, and he's written a text for me. Could you proofread it for me, please?

2. I've hired a freelancer, and he wrote a text for me. Could you proofread it for me, please?

3. I hired a freelancer, and he wrote a text for me. Could you proofread it for me, please?

Is it correct that sentences #1 and #2 are correct if the freelancer is still in John's employ (for example, he was hired to write several texts of which only one has been written so far), whereas sentence #3 is correct if the freelancer is no longer in John's employ (for example, he was hired to write only one text and then went on to work for someone else)?

 

[emsr2d2]

With 1 and 2, I would assume the freelancer still had some kind of contract with you. However, whether they go on to write more texts for you can't be inferred from either sentence. You might keep him in your employ but never ask him to do anything again.
With 3, the suggestion is that his work for you is over.

Please take care with your titles. Your title uses "I have" but sentences 1 and 2 open with "I've". Titles should reflect exactly at least one of the sentences you're asking us to look at.

 

[EngLearner]

How about these two sentences:

4. A freelancer has written a text for me. I was wondering if you could proofread it.

5. A freelancer wrote a text for me. I was wondering if you could proofread it.

Would #4 be taken to mean that the freelancer was still in John's employ, and would #5 mean that they had stopped working for John?

 

[Barque]

Would #4 be taken to mean that the freelancer was still in John's employ, and would #5 mean that they had stopped working for John?

Possibly, maybe even probably, but that may not necessarily be what the speaker means.

4. A freelancer has written a text for me. I was wondering if you could proofread it.

I might have hired him yesterday and he might have done his work the same day, and I might have paid his bill and told him the engagement was over. I could still use "has written".

5. A freelancer wrote a text for me. I was wondering if you could proofread it.

I might have hired him six months ago to do various items of work for a year, and so his contract might still have six months to run. But I might be referring to a text he wrote for me six months ago, just after I hired him, and which I'd done nothing with till now. I could say this in that situation.

With sentences 1 and 2, it's a little different. They both strongly suggest that the freelancer is still under contract with you as emsr2d2 says.

Sentence 3 could be used in both situations--where the contract is still running and where it's expired, depending on the circumstances and how the speaker looks at it.

 

[EngLearner]

2. I've hired a freelancer, and he wrote a text for me. Could you proofread it for me, please?

I asked a British English speaker about #1, #2 and #3. He approved of #1 and #3, but he didn't like #2. This is what he said:

This time sequence doesn't feel right to me - you have a recent present perfect tense "I have hired" followed by a simple past tense "wrote", which implies an earlier event.

Does anyone feel the same way about #2?

 

[emsr2d2]

I asked a British English speaker about #1, #2 and #3. He approved of #1 and #3, but he didn't like #2. This is what he said:

Does anyone feel the same way about #2?

I don't.