Hi, guys, I need some help with a question that has been driving me crazy. Check out this sentence:

Joe had had a tennis lesson last Thursday.

Do you see what's bothering me? HAD HAD. Is this proper grammar? Several times in my writing, I've been in situations where the most natural way to phrase something is "had had". I've always twisted my phrasing around to avoid it, but every time I think about it, I really WANT to know: is it wrong or right?

As far as I know, "had had" is grammatically correct, just not often used because of how awkward it is. Similar to "I gave her her jacket." or "The problem is is that it's too cold outside." In my opinion, even if they are grammatically correct, rewording the sentence is probably the best way to go.

I've found the following sources that might help your confusion (and that of everyone else) over the usage:

http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/317-had-had.html#post1541

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/double-is-double-has.aspx

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100409090153AAaOX02

Hope you all find these helpful!!

Even without the above references, though, I usually settled on either using a contraction with the first "had," like: "She'd had a terrible day." It always sounded like it flowed so much better than the stark "had had." I also tend to reword sentences with "is is" or other past perfects together like that.

~~Wiccan~~

I am glad that this got brought up! It is one of those things that has always bothered me

I'm in agreement with everyone else.

"had had" is grammatically correct. The first "had" is your helper (auxiliary) and the second is your verb, but you come across these things when you use a passive tense like past perfect. When you change to a different tense such as "regular" past: "Joe had a tennis lesson last Thursday." you retain the meaning without the awkwardness. There are times it is necessary as in "Joe had had a tennis lesson when he broke his ankle." This tells us that the tennis lesson had finished before he injured himself.

If it doesn't feel comfortable though, re-wording is an easy way to fix it. The same applies to "is is", "that that", and others. They can be correct, but feel awkward, so go with what works for you.

Wiccan's second website (grammar.quickanddirtytips.com...) is a good one to reference. It's well presented and usually a pretty decent reference overall.

I use such wording as it sounds just fine and is grammatically correct. You wouldn't believe how many people actually use this while conversing.