Responding to my piece on had had in if-clauses (EFU March 2008) Mr Radhe Shyam has claimed that had had does occur in if-clauses and is quite unexceptionable. He gives a constructed example If I had had my morning coffee when I met my friend yesterday, I should not have taken his innocent joke ill and quarreled with him. He concludes: ‘Had had is not only unexceptionable but necessary; only had would alter the meaning.’

Let’s examine the specific question of had had in if-clauses in the larger perspective of the contexts for the past perfect.

1. In the context of two actions in the past one of which (A) takes place earlier than the other (B) and has a bearing on it. When I went to the station this morning, the train had already left. In this situation the past perfect is generally found. But with a suitable preposition it can be eliminated. The train left before I reached the station.

2. In if-clauses where the if-clause expresses a circumstance/situation which, not being realised, the main clause activity does not follow. If I had known you were coming, I would have come to the airport. If you had told me about the plan earlier, I would have joined you. Here too there are two situations (not necessarily activities) where, given the first one (A), the second one (B) would have followed. (A) is the condition and it is not realised.

So (B) does not follow. Clauses as in A are clauses of ‘rejected condition’. Instead of a lexical verb (tell, know), we can also have BE. If you had been more careful, you wouldn’t have made this stupid mistake. If he had been miserly, he wouldn’t have supported so many charities.

A variant of the type described above (clauses of rejected condition) is: If I had a camera, I would have taken some pictures. It is possible to interpret this sentence as having reference to the present. Say, you are in the zoo. After wandering for an hour or so you tell your friend: ‘If I had a camera, I would have taken some pictures’.

The sentence can also have a more distant interpretation. Some days after the visit to the zoo, you tell your sister (who did not accompany you to the zoo): ‘If I had a camera, I….’ It is also possible to say: ‘if I had had a camera…’ But the first one gives just the same meaning.

A slightly different case where the past perfect would be more in order is: If I had had (or: taken) an Imodium in the morning, I could have gone out sightseeing in the afternoon. In this case, arguably, the version: If I had an Imodium in the morning, I could have gone out sightseeing…doesn’t bring out the full meaning. Had by itself may not suggest taking the tablet.

3. The condition expressed in the if-clause is basically unrealisable.  If I had wings, I would have flown away to the Himalayas.

In these cases it makes no difference whether the statement was made in the immediate past or the remote past. There is no point in saying: If I had had wings, I would have flown away. A special case of this inherently unrealisable state of affairs is seen in: If I were you, I wouldn’t do it. The reference is usually to the present.

Even when the situation admits of a past interpretation, there is no past perfect here. (Listening to an account of how John behaved at a certain time in the past towards your friend, you will say: ‘If I were you, I would have….’)
Now for a review and summary.  In the if-clauses described above there are two broad cases: (a) where the if-clause states an activity (mental or physical) expressed by a verb know, tell, take, or a state, condition or trait miserly, careful; (b) where the if-clause expresses some possession or lack of it: camera, wings.

Observe now that when there is an activity/state/trait you have the auxiliary had and the past perfect of the specific verb in question or of BE: had known, had told, and had taken; had been.

When the if-clause does not express an activity/state or trait, we have usually one verb, had (not an auxiliary) followed by a noun camera, wings, etc. There is no verb here to be in the past perfect; hence no had had will be found unless the possession of something (or the lack it) is expressed by another have. If I had had an Imodium…. A rare case.

Hence in clauses of rejected condition, while the past perfect (the auxiliary HAVE in the past followed by the past participle of the lexical verb or BE) is usually mandatory, it is not so when the if-clause expresses, not an activity, state or trait but possession (or lack of it). Had had therefore is a very rare structure in if-clauses. (These clauses are necessarily clauses of rejected condition.) It is not surprising that there is not a single citation for had had in if- clauses either in Quirk et al (A Grammar of Contemporary English) or Michael Swan (Practical English Usage).

An actual count of English verb forms conducted at the (then) Central Institute of English (CIE) under the guidance of Prof. H.V.George did not show even a single occurrence of had had in conditional clauses (101 Substitution Tables for Students of English, Cambridge University Press, London, 1967)

This is not to say that had had never occurs in if-clauses. (Recall that I only said it is not needed in such clauses, in my column of March 20.) It is usually contracted to‘d had and may be found in spoken English to some extent.

(Raymond Murphy (Intermediate English Grammar) and FT Wood (A Remedial English Grammar for Foreign Students) have each one example.  But in the context of would have/should have in the main clause, If…had gives the required negative meaning making had had redundant.

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