Double use of a verb.....................

Hi all,

I am taking a TEFL course at the very start of next year, so may need your help from now until eternity!!!!!!!!

As one who is a native speaker and takes much of english language for granted like so many, it was a shock to realise how much I had forgotten! I have a few months i feel would be foolish to waste so I am returning beforehand to study this so that the course itself is hopefully a little easier to grasp and I know more of my subject matter!

Having quickly looked through recent question's I didn't find this point pertaining to grammar and so would like to ask it if I may.........

When writing is this just clumsy or simply incorrect to state.........."Albert had had two reasons for saying what he'd already done that day". the double had being the point of my question. Apologies for the poor example but I hope you can all grasp what I mean!!!!!

As a second question can someone explain where the difference lies in placing a full stop inside or outside a sentence where brackets are used in the middle somewhere? (lkjhdhdkj). as apposed to (jhaghdg.) ?



Warm regards,


Alex

[dduck]

Originally Posted by makaveli

When writing is this just clumsy or simply incorrect to state.........."Albert had had two reasons for saying what he'd already done that day". the double had being the point of my question. Apologies for the poor example but I hope you can all grasp what I mean!!!!!

From the top...

We use the past perfect tense when we are talking about two actions that occured in the past when one happened before the other, for example:

I bought a ticket.
The film finished.

The film had already finished when I bought my ticket.

We use had to show which action/activity happen first.

There are some phrasal verbs that include the verb to have, e.g. "to have enough". When we form the past perfect tense we end up with "He had had enough". (Present perfect is: He's had enough)

He had had enough of her after she asked him to be quiet for the hundredth time.

Iain

[makaveli]

Many thanks Iain.

Alex

[Tdol]

The full stop should be outside the brackets to end the sentence, of which the brackets are a part. If there is a full stop inside the brackets, it is because there is a complete sentence inside the brackets. This is what we do in British English- I'm not sure if there is any difference in AE. There are some differences in punctuation; in BE we can puntuate inside or outside quotation marks, while Americans punctuate within. We'll have to wait until RonBee or another of our AE speakers comes in for the answer to that.

[RonBee]

A pointer.

Originally Posted by makaveli

Having quickly looked through recent question's I didn't find this point pertaining to grammar and so would like to ask it if I may.........

A gentle suggestion. :wink:

Never ever ever pluralize a word by using an apostrophe. It should be
questions.

[RonBee]

Originally Posted by makaveli

I am taking a TEFL course at the very start of next year, so may need your help from now until eternity!!!!!!!!

But I won't be here that long. :wink:

Originally Posted by makaveli

When writing is this just clumsy or simply incorrect to state.........."Albert had had two reasons for saying what he'd already done that day". the double had being the point of my question.

Unless he changed his mind at some time, I see no reason for the additional "had" in that sentence.

Originally Posted by makaveli

As a second question can someone explain where the difference lies in placing a full stop inside or outside a sentence where brackets are used in the middle somewhere? (lkjhdhdkj). as apposed to (jhaghdg.) ?

As far as I know, British usage and American usage are identical in this matter. Do not use a full stop (period) unless the sentence stands by itself. (Unless the sentence stands by itself, do not use a full stop (period).) (Note the use of parentheses (brackets) in the last sentence.)

Another recommendation. Do not use a period except at the end of a sentence. When you use a quote within a sentence omit the period (full stop). Questions marks are a different matter.

I suggest that you register so you can respond to questions and comments.

:)