Had had had!

By J.D. Ray · Feb 25, 2020 · ·
  1. 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.
    It didn’t take long to cover the entire site, and soon they saw as much as they could.
    Replace with a more useful verb:
    His smile had little in the way of warmth, though it did not seem ingenuine.
    His smile carried 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:
    It seemed like a natural cave that had been worked so the walls were smooth.​

    That's all I had wanted to say. ;)
    Some Guy likes this.

Comments

  1. J.D. Ray
    I just did a final editing pass on my novella and removed around 300 instances of the word "had" out of about 45K words. That feels like progress.
      Richach and jannert like this.
  2. jannert
    Oh, gosh, yes. It's so easy to fall into those kinds of overuse traps. Mine is 'that.'
      J.D. Ray likes this.
  3. GrahamLewis
    That was mine, too.
  4. GrahamLewis
    JD -- just be careful. As you say, sometimes "had" is helpful. In that sense, I'm not sure about your following example of "overuse":

    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.

    To me, to say "someone had carved" contains more significance than simply that "someone carved." The former suggests a growing awareness that someone had been present, as opposed to a simple observation that someone, sometime, had carved something. If that makes sense.
      Thundair likes this.
  5. Richach
    Had and carved are past tense so they serve the same purpose from that p.o.v. I think we all have words that seem to breed like rabbits across our work.

    Just an example of my unnecessary words and phrases...
      Some Guy likes this.
  6. Xoic
    Had + another past tense word (done, been, seen, etc.) is past perfect tense and is a symptom of passive voice. It definitely has its place, but you don't want to use it very often.

    I know there's a word for these 'other past tense words', but I don't know what it is.
      J.D. Ray likes this.
  7. J.D. Ray
    @GrahamLewis, I put the "had" back in on the M+C sentence; you're right, it belonged there (though I had already put it back in when I read your comment. Great minds and all).

    @Xoic, I went through the text and replace almost, but not quite, all instance of "had been" with "was" or "were". Things were better after that, and I was more pleased with the result. ;)

    When I started the had eradication (e-had-ication??), almost 450 instances of the word existed in just under 50K words of text; nearly 1%, which is silly. Afterward I was down to 162.

    (Note: I nearly wrote "I had almost 450 instances..." above, then stopped myself. I need to wire something up so my keyboard gives me a little shock (not too much) when I type the word 'had'. :D
      Xoic and Some Guy like this.
  8. GrahamLewis
    "It seemed like a natural cave that had been worked so the walls were smooth."

    How about, "It seemed a natural cave with walls worked smooth by someone."
      J.D. Ray likes this.
  9. GrahamLewis
    This probably makes no never-mind, but though I like your writing I find it hard to take you seriously as a writer when you use emojis. But maybe it's just a generational thing.
      J.D. Ray likes this.
  10. Some Guy
  11. GrahamLewis
    I knew that was coming. Clever.
  12. J.D. Ray
    I don't know, how old are you?
      jannert likes this.
  13. jannert
    Emojis have their uses online. They help reinforce emotional tone. If you stick a :) at the end of a remark, it's an indication that you are either joking or meant the statement kindly. Without it, folks can sure pick up the wrong end of the stick. As we probably all know. To our cost. Said the frazzled Mod.
      Xoic, J.D. Ray and Richach like this.
  14. GrahamLewis
    As long as you keep them off my lawn!
      Xoic likes this.
  15. Xoic
    As long as you don't use them in the actual stories! Anywhere else on the board is fine, sometimes it helps clarify that something is just a joke or what emotional tone was really intended. Takes the place of facial expressions and body language, which are conspicuously absent in cyberspace.

    And Graham, I think I'm going to fill your lawn with giant Emoji billboards! So there! PFFFFT! :p
      J.D. Ray and Some Guy like this.
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