Question about sentence

Question

Dear all,Please see the following sentences which taken from a famous English News Paper. Here I personally feel that there is unwanted usage of "had". Kindly enlighten me."The parents had filed a complaint with Kerala Police stating that the girl who had gone to college on Thursday had not returned"."She had prepared a suicide note stating that she had come to the college with high hopes for the future".Thanking you.

Jack Dammit · Accepted Answer

Intrepid Cat Navy:

First, consider the conjugation of the Past Perfect tense in the following charts:

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/verb-conjugation/

Next, consider the following definition of the Past Perfect tense:

"...of, relating to, or constituting a verb tense that is traditionally formed in English with had and denotes an action or state as completed at or before a past time spoken of"

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/past%20perfect

Now, let's look at each of your cases:

"The parents had filed a complaint..."

and

"She had prepared a suicide note..."

Both cases plausibly describe an action "completed at or before the past time spoken of."

I therefore conclude that both uses of "had" are justifiable.

DISCLAIMER: The English Forward persona Jack Dammit is bereft of both appropriate credentials and reasonable credibility. Please adjust your expectations accordingly

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