Brimstone, by Robert B. Parker, c.2009.
 
                                Chapter 7
 
WE TOOK ALLIE TO BREAKFAST in the cook tent.  With her
dress washed and her hair combed, she looked a little better
than she ___  when we dragged her out of the Barbary Coast
Cafe'. But she didn't look good.  <end of paragraph>
 
Grammarians,
 
Which word should fill the blank in the quote above, had or did? ("looked" is an obvious possibility but Parker didn't use it.)
 
What rule applies to the choice and/or what is the explanation you might give a student for the choice?
 
.brad.08nov09.

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