“Good. Item seven. The
had had and
that that problem. Lady Cavendish, weren’t you working on this?’
Lady Cavendish stood up and gathered her thoughts. ‘Indeed. The uses of
had had and
that that have to be strictly controlled; they can interrupt the imaginotransference quite dramatically, causing readers to go back over the sentence in confusion, something we try to avoid.’
‘Go on.’
‘It’s mostly an unlicensed-usage problem. At the last count David Copperfield alone had had
had had sixty three times, all but ten unapproved. Pilgrim’s Progress may also be a problem due to its
had had/that that ratio.’
‘So what’s the problem in Progress?’
‘That that had
that that ten times but had had
had had only thrice. Increased
had had usage had had to be overlooked, but not if the number exceeds that
that that usage.’
‘Hmm,’ said the Bellman, ‘I thought
had had had had TGC’s approval for use in Dickens? What’s the problem?’
‘Take the first
had had and
that that in the book by way of example,’ said Lady Cavendish. ‘You would have thought that that first
had had had had good occasion to be seen as
had, had you not?
Had had had approval but
had had had not; equally it is true to say that that
that that had had approval but that that other
that that had not.’
‘So the problem with that other
that that was that…?’
‘That that other-other
that that had had approval.’
‘Okay’ said the Bellman, whose head was in danger of falling apart like a chocolate orange, ‘let me get this straight: David Copperfield, unlike Pilgrim’s Progress, had had
had, had had
had had.
Had had had had TGC’s approval?’
There was a very long pause. ‘Right,’ said the Bellman with a sigh, ‘that’s it for the moment. I’ll be giving out assignments in ten minutes. Session’s over – and let’s be careful out there.”
―
Jasper Fforde,
The Well of Lost Plots
