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Usage of HAD

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by vineetbatra » Sat Aug 22, 2009 2:23 pm
I understand that Had is the past perfect and preceeds another simple past action.

Eg. I did not have any money because I had lost my wallet

My question is that is this the only acceptable use of Had, when we talk in in regular english we often say sentences such as, I had a meetiong with XYZ yesterday. In its true sence is this sentence incorrect, if yes, how to rephrase it?
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by capnx » Sat Aug 22, 2009 3:42 pm
had can be used in two ways: 1) its own verb, to possess, to own. IE: I have a book. We have a meeting. He has a car.
2) auxilary/helping verb to indicate perfect tense. I have eaten. He has bought a car.

In your example, "had" is used as its own verb (case 1): to hold/to possess in its own simple past tense. I have a meeting today. I had a meeting yesterday.

easiest way to test: can you remove "had" and the meaning still make sense. IE: He has bought a car. He bought a car. So help can be removed.
I ___ a meeting yesterday. So help is used as the main verb, not as helping verb to indicate perfect tense.
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by vineetbatra » Sat Aug 22, 2009 5:18 pm
capnx wrote:had can be used in two ways: 1) its own verb, to possess, to own. IE: I have a book. We have a meeting. He has a car.
2) auxilary/helping verb to indicate perfect tense. I have eaten. He has bought a car.

In your example, "had" is used as its own verb (case 1): to hold/to possess in its own simple past tense. I have a meeting today. I had a meeting yesterday.

easiest way to test: can you remove "had" and the meaning still make sense. IE: He has bought a car. He bought a car. So help can be removed.
I ___ a meeting yesterday. So help is used as the main verb, not as helping verb to indicate perfect tense.
Thanks, it makes sense
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