In the following sentence, is the use of "had" twice correct?
If she had had more money, she would have bought a bigger house.
I feel it should be used only once. Is there a specific rule for such sentences. This appeared in one of the grammar books.
Past Perfect Tense
This topic has expert replies
- jayhawk2001
- Community Manager
- Posts: 789
- Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 3:51 pm
- Location: Silicon valley, California
- Thanked: 30 times
- Followed by:1 members
When there are 2 events in the past, the earlier event uses the past
perfect form of the verb i.e. had + <verb>
Now, there are cases where one has to use "had" in its actual form
i.e. to possess. Sentences involving such a construction uses the rather
weird "had had" verb form to denote that this event happened prior
to another in the past.
"If she had had more money, she would have bought a bigger house"
In the sentence above, "bought" already denotes the past. So, it is
correct to use "had had"
perfect form of the verb i.e. had + <verb>
Now, there are cases where one has to use "had" in its actual form
i.e. to possess. Sentences involving such a construction uses the rather
weird "had had" verb form to denote that this event happened prior
to another in the past.
"If she had had more money, she would have bought a bigger house"
In the sentence above, "bought" already denotes the past. So, it is
correct to use "had had"
So, If I understand you correctly, if we use "had" only once, then both events would be in the past tense and that would not set up a correct time relation.
So "had had" achieves that.....got it! ...Thanks
So "had had" achieves that.....got it! ...Thanks
GMAT/MBA Expert
- Stacey Koprince
- GMAT Instructor
- Posts: 2228
- Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pm
- Location: Montreal, Canada
- Thanked: 639 times
- Followed by:694 members
- GMAT Score:780
Exactly! And if you wanted to use just one "had," you'd say:
If she had more money, she would buy a bigger house
If she had more money, she would buy a bigger house
Please note: I do not use the Private Messaging system! I will not see any PMs that you send to me!!
Stacey Koprince
GMAT Instructor
Director of Online Community
Manhattan GMAT
Contributor to Beat The GMAT!
Learn more about me
Stacey Koprince
GMAT Instructor
Director of Online Community
Manhattan GMAT
Contributor to Beat The GMAT!
Learn more about me
-
- Legendary Member
- Posts: 559
- Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2007 1:29 am
- Thanked: 5 times
- Followed by:2 members