The meaning of "caught hold" in the [my mother caught hold of my hand]

Hello,

Take a look at the text below:

When I had completed the burial, I sighed and stared back to the flat, but my mother caught hold of my hand and led me again to the kitten's grave.

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Would you please explain to me what is the meaning of "catch hold/caught hold?"

Another question which I have about the text above is about the tense of "had completed." I was skeptical about it, so I asked an American native speaker and she told me that "had completed" is wrong and it should be corrected to the "completed" one. What do you think about it?

Stare back means reaction of staring to the somebody who was starring at us. The question arises here is how an inanimate thing can stare at somebody and then the person in response to its staring, stare back to it! The author could write "I sighed and stared at the flat" why he has used "stared back?" Could you please explain more about it?

Thank you in advance,

Piscean said:

She caught hold of my hand means simply she took my hand in hers

The past perfect is appropriate in that sentence.

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Is it still correct if we eliminate "had" and just write "completed?" "had completed" does not make sense for me because of the definition below:

More than one past tense may be used in a sentence when the actions occurred in the past at the same time. [Grammar Digest]

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The person simultaneously buried [the cat] and sighed.

I also added another question about the text above concerning "stare back." I appreciate you if you answer to that question too.

Lumia625 said:

Would you please explain to me [STRIKE]what is[/STRIKE] the meaning of "catch hold/caught hold?"

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It means to grasp something.

Lumia625 said:

Another question which I have about the text above is about the tense of "had completed." I was skeptical about it, so I asked an American native speaker, and she told me that "had completed" is wrong, and it should be [STRIKE]corrected to the[/STRIKE] "completed." [STRIKE]one.[/STRIKE] What do you think about it?

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As Piscean has correctly pointed out, the past perfect is appropriate. This is because the past action "complete" occurred before the other past actions in that sentence.

Lumia625 said:

Stare back means reaction of staring to the somebody who was starring at us.

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I sighed and stared [back to the flat] ...
In that sentence, "back" indicates direction; it is not part of a phrasal verb.

teechar said:

It means to grasp something.

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I guess both the meanings of "hold" and "catch" are almost same. So why we should use "catch hold?" it seems like a phrasal verb but I could not find any cues about it in my dictionaries!

Piscean said:

The past perfect is therefore appropriate.

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In conclusion, Both of the "completed" and "had completed" are correct but the second one (past perfect) is more correct. Yeah?

Piscean said:

'took me my the hand',

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I'm sure Piscean meant to type "took me by the hand." ;-)