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C.Lyn Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Nested 'does have' in question

I'm proofing a document for a friend and I ran across a question in the text which is similar to:

"What type of skills does a Human Resource Director has to have to be successful?"

I corrected it to:

"What types of skills does a human resource director have to have to be successful?"

Out of all of the corrections that I have made, I'm not sure why this one threw me. I was hoping someone here would assist me with ensuring that my corrections are, in fact, correct. This is just a standard auxiliary/helper verb issue, is it not?

Thank you in advance!
  

Top answer

Lyn This is just a standard auxiliary/helper verb issue, is it not? Yes it is. does has is impossible.

  • Lyn This is just a standard auxiliary/helper verb issue, is it not?
  • Yes it is.
  • does has is impossible.
  • You can't have two " s -markers" in the same verb phrase.
  • Consider the statement form: A human resource director does {has?
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2 Answers
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C.LynThis is just a standard auxiliary/helper verb issue, is it not?
Yes it is.

does has is impossible. You can't have two "s-markers" in the same verb phrase.

Consider the statement form:

A human resource director does {has? / have?} to have certain skills to be successful.

CJ
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Your correction is OK. The operator 'does' does the conjugation here and takes over the ending -s/es out of the main verb 'have to have'.

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