Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Teo]

The person writing reports is my colleague.
The above sentence may be interpreted, according to the context, as equivalent to one of the more explicit versions in the following.

1. The person who will write reports is my colleague.

2. The person who will be writing reports is my colleague.

3. The person who writes reports is my colleague.

4. The person who is writing reports is my colleague.

5. The person who wrote reports is my colleague.

6. The person who was writing reports is my colleague.

A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, Quirk, et al.

However, according to Michael Swan, we should use a relative clause to express a non-progressive meaning.

7. The man who threw the bomb was arrested.

NOT 8. *The man throwing the bomb was arrested.

If Quirk is right, sentence #8 should be acceptable, shouldn't it?

If Swan is right, the blue sentence cannot normally be interpreted as 1, 3, or 5.

Who do you think is right, Quirk or Swan?
_________________
Thank you very much for your reply.

[asterix]

They're both right.
If you say the man throwing the bomb was arrested, the tenses don't agree. He threw the bombs...He was arrested - it's over.

You can go to the cops and say, "The man throwing the bombs, is my colleague." though. and the same possibilities are there as for #1. through #7.