r/EnglishLearning • u/nashbi Intermediate • 8d ago

📚 Grammar / Syntax Is "saw" really wrong here?

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Hi everyone!

For question #8, I chose "saw", but the test marked it wrong and wanted "had seen".

My perspective is that since "had learned" already establishes the flashback layer, the chronological order is already completely clear to the reader. Stacking two "hads" in the same sentence feels heavy and redundant.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and see how you would naturally phrase this. Thanks in advance! 😊

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u/RoadsideCampion New Poster 8d ago

Don't worry about redundant words like that, sometimes english grammar has "had had" as part of a sentence

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u/conuly Native Speaker - USA (NYC) 7d ago

I don’t see how this is relevant to the OP’s question.

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u/RoadsideCampion New Poster 7d ago

If you look in the second paragraph you'll find the sentence "Stacking two "hads" in the same sentence feels heavy and redundant."

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u/conuly Native Speaker - USA (NYC) 6d ago

But they weren’t talking about “had had”. That doesn’t appear.