she looked a little better than she did <look> when we dragged her out

she looked a little better than she had <looked> when we dragged her out

Now what do you say?

~~~~~

 

What do I say? Sure, I can tell you what I say. Robert B. Parker wrote, "she looked a little better than she had when we dragged her out", by which he committed the common error of putting the word 'had' in front of the obviously-implied-but-omitted past tense verb, 'looked'.

 

If you will look at whatever newspaper you read and highlight the first ten 'had's you see, you will see that half of them will be (1) 'had' in front of (what is by its function) a past tense verb, or (2) 'had been' instead of the correct 'was' or 'were', or (3) trying to put 'had' in front of an irregular past tense verb, which forces the irregular past participle. Really. Try it. You'll see.

 

I have tried to get several of you to help me with number (3) but no one can help until they learn to see 'had' in front of past tense verbs. The irregular wrinkle is a step beyond (1) but if you can't see (1), you will never be able to help me figure out (3). Yes, this is a cry for help. Any takers? Better go off-line because it's going to take a while -- unless, of course, you can already see 'had's in front of past tense verbs. [log in to unmask]

 

.brad.11nov09.