btgyes wrote:...

Answer should be A. You need the past perfect because Howard's success in the regulated channels presumably came about BEFORE he opted out for the less regulated stations.

D and E are out because they miss the "although" connection between the success on the regulated channels and Howard's choice to change direction to the less regulated ones.

'Had had' is scary to many students, but it's actually quite the regular form of the past perfect tense: had + V3 (perfect form)
For example, in the verb "had gone", the 'had' is the Past perfect 'had', and "gone is the V3 (perfect form) of the verb "go".
"had had" is really no different: The first 'had' is the past perfect 'had', and the second 'had' is the V3 (perfect form) of the verb 'have', which just happens to be the same 'had'.

Geva@MasterGMAT wrote:

btgyes wrote:...

Answer should be A. You need the past perfect because Howard's success in the regulated channels presumably came about BEFORE he opted out for the less regulated stations.

D and E are out because they miss the "although" connection between the success on the regulated channels and Howard's choice to change direction to the less regulated ones.

'Had had' is scary to many students, but it's actually quite the regular form of the past perfect tense: had + V3 (perfect form)
For example, in the verb "had gone", the 'had' is the Past perfect 'had', and "gone is the V3 (perfect form) of the verb "go".
"had had" is really no different: The first 'had' is the past perfect 'had', and the second 'had' is the V3 (perfect form) of the verb 'have', which just happens to be the same 'had'.

Great.. Thanks..

Could you please give some eg. in which HAS HAD is used...

i just to know in which context HAS HAD is used.

while answering, i chose B option. As i thought that

HAS is for that he is alive right now
and
HAD is used here because this event occured earlier than second event..

plz comment

btgyes wrote:

Geva@MasterGMAT wrote:

btgyes wrote:...

Answer should be A. You need the past perfect because Howard's success in the regulated channels presumably came about BEFORE he opted out for the less regulated stations.

D and E are out because they miss the "although" connection between the success on the regulated channels and Howard's choice to change direction to the less regulated ones.

'Had had' is scary to many students, but it's actually quite the regular form of the past perfect tense: had + V3 (perfect form)
For example, in the verb "had gone", the 'had' is the Past perfect 'had', and "gone is the V3 (perfect form) of the verb "go".
"had had" is really no different: The first 'had' is the past perfect 'had', and the second 'had' is the V3 (perfect form) of the verb 'have', which just happens to be the same 'had'.

Great.. Thanks..

Could you please give some eg. in which HAS HAD is used...

i just to know in which context HAS HAD is used.

while answering, i chose B option. As i thought that

HAS is for that he is alive right now
and
HAD is used here because this event occured earlier than second event..

plz comment

It's the same story, just with present perfect "has + V3"

the first "has" is the present perfect "has", the "had" is once again the V3 form of the verb "have".
If you want earlier than second event (the past of the past, or past perfect), you need had+v3, not XXX+had.

Use Has had in any case you will use present perfect: an action that's happened in the past,but the exact time is unknown/unimportant: He has had success with this before. (Although the above is awkward, and is probably best replaced with "he has succeeded with this before")