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| Date: | Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:52:25 -0700 |
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New York Times archives. Published: August 18, 1993
Frank R. Barnett, founder and president of the National Strategy Information Center of Washington and New York, died on Sunday at a Manhattan nursing home. He was 72 and lived in Manhattan.
The cause was heart failure, the center said, adding that he had had cancer.
. . . . . . . .
If he "had" cancer, he had cancer at the time of his death.
If he "had had" cancer, he did not have cancer at the time of his death.
The past perfect is a device that changes meaning. Its proper use is never optional.
The example makes clear why the past tense is always the default.
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