grammar - Past perfect and using before/after


My friend and I are having a debate about the following sentence and what to slot into the gap:


______ we had finished the course, we received certificates. (Before/After)


To me it sounds correct to use either before/after in the sentence, like this:


"After we had finished the course, we received certificates". (We finished the course and then received certificates after that).


"Before we had finished the course, we received certificates". (We received certificates before the end of the course).


My friend, however, argues that the action expressed in the past perfect ("had finished") must always be the preceding action, followed by the past simple ("received certificates") and so it is ungrammatical to use "before" here.


Which interpretation of the grammar is correct here?




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