I have a bad case of the hads. I recently performed a self-diagnosis and discovered the illness. I hope it's not terminal.
Seriously, though, as far as I can tell, about eighty percent of the time the word "had" appears in text, it can be deleted. Sometimes you have to modify the following verb, but often it's just double-click-and-delete.
Example:
A heart symbol into which someone had carved “M+C” held a place of prominence.
A heart symbol into which someone carved “M+C” held a place of prominence.
Modify the verb:
It didn’t take long to cover the entire site, and soon they had seen as much as they could.Replace with a more useful verb:
It didn’t take long to cover the entire site, and soon they saw as much as they could.
His smile had little in the way of warmth, though it did not seem ingenuine.It can be a useful word, but should be used judiciously. To wit:
His smile carried little in the way of warmth, though it did not seem ingenuine.
It seemed like a natural cave that had been worked so the walls were smooth.
That's all I had wanted to say.
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