Verb use
completed - is incorrect according to Grammarly. Please check sentence. Thanks
See example:
An immigration reform if accepted could establish a path to citizenship for those illegal immigrant students that came to the United States as minors, and had completed two years of college or military service.
claudia ovalle
New member
2 answers 
I'm going to take a shot at this and would like a real grammarian to provide the correct answer.
The phrase "had completed" is a past perfect construction. From http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/pastperfect.html, "The Past Perfect expresses the idea that something occurred before another action in the past. It can also show that something happened before a specific time in the past."
A simple past construction works better in this case, "... and completed two years of college or military service."
Another issue is the use of commas. The interrupter "if accepted" should be enclosed in commas. Also, the comma after "minors" is unnecessary because your list contains only two items: arrival in the US and completing two years.
Grammarly likes the following sentence:
An immigration reform, if accepted, could establish a path to citizenship for those illegal immigrant students that came to the United States as minors and completed two years of college or military service.
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answered Dec 30 '11 at 16:55
Jeff C
New member
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