Had or Had Had -This is The question. :-)

[oursilverstrands]

Jan, I searched for the topic before posting, and I couldn't find any lesson on this from your lessons or Ann's. Even though, this is a grammar topic, could you give a mini-lesson on when to use had or had had?

Thanks,

Lillian

[Shann]

I'm sure Jan will give a great lesson, but until she does, I thought I'd share one of my favorite resources that explains it nicely and I use quite a bit whenever I need to get a better grip on it.
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/educat ... e-words-ok

[glorybee]

The word 'had' has more than one meaning:

1. It's often a helping verb which denotes a particular kind of past tense (specifically, the past perfect tense). Thus, if you say

I went to the store

...that has a slightly different meaning than

I had gone to the store.

Both indicate actions in the past, but the past perfect tense (the one with 'had') indicates something that happened before something else.

2. But the word 'had' also means 'possessed.'

I had three bananas.

So you'll find 'had had' in sentences where both meanings are used side by side:

I had had three bananas, but I was still hungry for more.

However, 'had had' is an awkward construction, and it's best to re-write, if possible.

I had eaten three bananas, but I was still hungry for more.

Similarly, it's possible to use 'that that' in a perfectly grammatical English sentence, but that is also best re-written.

[oursilverstrands]

Thanks guys for the quick responses. I reviewed the website, Shann, and found it helpful.
Jan, as always, you made it easier to understand

Lillian