James while John had had

Question

James, while John had had "had", had had "had had"; "had had" had had a better effect on the teacher. I don't get why teacher preferred past perfect in this sentence. And why it HAD HAD a better effect, not HAD a better effect?

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Anonymous I don't get why teacher preferred past perfect in this sentence.

Because with the past perfect you can make a clever word play.

Clive · Answer

This sentence tells us what tense James and John used in some other (earlier) sentence that their teacher asked them to write.

why teacher preferred past perfect
We are not told what that other (earlier) sentence was. We are just told that the teacher thought 'had had' was the correct tense.

And why it HAD HAD a better effect, not HAD a better effect?
The Past Perfect describes an event prior to some later event. The later event is not clearly explained to us..

I hope you realize that this sentence with 11 uses of 'had' is just a little joke. No-one would seriously say this.

Clive

James while John had had

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