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Oliver ---- (not have) a cup of coffee before he came to our table.
Correct answer is 'had not had'. Can you explain this answer?
Verified Answer
Oliver ---- (not have) a cup of coffee before he came to our table.Cor...
Past Perfect tense,
Oliver had not had a cup of coffee before he came to our table.
When we use past perfect, we express a past action that happened,so past before the past.The auxiliary verb “had” is also used to form past perfect continuous. It expresses some past action that was happening for some time in the past before some other past action happened.
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Most Upvoted Answer
Oliver ---- (not have) a cup of coffee before he came to our table.Cor...
Explanation:

Subject-Verb Agreement:
In English grammar, subject-verb agreement refers to the correspondence between a subject and its verb in terms of number (singular or plural) and person (first, second, or third). It is crucial to maintain proper subject-verb agreement for sentence clarity and grammatical correctness.

Simple Past Tense:
The simple past tense is used to describe an action that happened in the past and is now completed. In regular verbs, the past tense is formed by adding "-ed" to the base form of the verb. However, in irregular verbs, the past tense is formed differently.

Verb Form:
In this sentence, the verb form "have" is used, which is an irregular verb. The past tense of "have" is "had." Therefore, the correct form of the verb in the negative past tense is "had not had."

Explanation of the Sentence:
The sentence states that Oliver did not have a cup of coffee before he came to our table. The action of not having coffee occurred in the past. Since "have" is an irregular verb, the past tense form is "had." To form the negative past tense, "not" is added before the past tense form of the verb.

Correct Answer:
The correct answer is "had not had" because it accurately indicates the past tense of "have" in the negative form. The sentence would be grammatically incorrect if the past tense form of "have" (had) was not used.

Example Sentence:
- Oliver had not had a cup of coffee before he came to our table.
- Incorrect: Oliver did not have a cup of coffee before he came to our table.
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Community Answer
Oliver ---- (not have) a cup of coffee before he came to our table.Cor...
Past Perfect tense,
Oliver had not had a cup of coffee before he came to our table.
When we use past perfect, we express a past action that happened,so past before the past.The auxiliary verb “had” is also used to form past perfect continuous. It expresses some past action that was happening for some time in the past before some other past action happened.
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Oliver ---- (not have) a cup of coffee before he came to our table.Correct answer is 'had not had'. Can you explain this answer?
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