Had he breakfast this morning?
Is ‘Had he breakfast this morning?’ correct English?
Since ‘You have no idea where they live’’s and ‘You have nothing better to do’’s respective inquisitive forms—‘Have you no idea where they live?’ and ‘Have you nothing better to do?’, their past tense forms being ‘Had you no idea where they live?’ and ‘Had you nothing better to do?’—are correct, following the same logic, isn’t ‘He had breakfast this morning’’s inquisitive form, ‘Had he breakfast this morning?’, likewise correct?Please read the full question. I’m looking for a logically (hopefully) justified answer. The more informative the answer is, the better.
Warsaw Will
November 20, 2011, 1:39am
Hi. The verb 'have' has three main functions:
As a main stative verb, eg: possession as in have a car, have an idea etc
As a main active verb, eg: have lunch, gave a shower etc
As an auxiliary(helping) verb in perfect tenses - I have already done it.
You can use the inverted 'Have you' construction when 'have' is an auxiliary verb and a stative main verb, but not when it's an active main verb. Then you have to invert with the appropriate auxiliary.
Do you have lunch every day?
Are you having lunch today?
Have you already had lunch?
When 'have' is the auxiliary verb you must of course invert.
When 'have' is a main stative verb you have a choice, in BrE at least:
Have you any idea where he lives?
Do you have any idea where he lives?
I tell my foreign students they are safer always using the 'Do you?' forms rather than the 'Have you?' forms when 'have' is the main verb. Which I think is also more common in the States. The 'Have you?' form, although sometimes used in the UK, is more formal. In BrE we tend to use 'have got' for possession anyway.
And the same goes, of course, for negatives.
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Warsaw Will
November 20, 2011, 1:41am
Sorry - that should be "have a shower", obviously
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Warsaw Will
November 20, 2011, 4:22am
I think I gave you a logical explanation, but perhaps not the answer - No, we can't say ‘Had he breakfast this morning?’ - the correct answer is 'Did he have breakfast this morning'. For the reasons already given.
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Kyle
November 20, 2011, 8:25am
Another, more awkward but no less correct option is "Had he had breakfast this morning?", where the first "had" is auxiliary and the second is a main active verb.
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sigurd
November 20, 2011, 1:48pm
Oh, I see now. Thank you, Warsaw, for the helpful answer. :)
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Jen (unregistered)
November 20, 2011, 5:04pm
Actually, "Had he had breakfast this morning" is not a question, as it is not a complete sentence. It could be used as a clause, as in "Had he had breakfast this morning, he would have had more energy." "Has he had breakfast this morning?" would be the correct form (at least in American English), in addition to previously stated answer.
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AnWulf
November 20, 2011, 6:04pm
I would add that the question, "Had he breakfast this morning?" is in an anachronistic format. I don't think that it is wrong ... just very old-fashioned and not used in today's style. I would never teach it.
If you're taking a test or trying to explain it, follow Warsaw Will's rede along with Jen's followup.
If you're writing a story set back in the Middle Ages or Renaissance Period, go ahead and use it.
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Chris (unregistered)
November 21, 2011, 10:16am
Yes, it's old-fashioned English. Older forms of English have grammar that's more Germanic in nature.
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Warsaw Will
November 21, 2011, 11:21am
In support of Kyle, I had assumed he was meaning this as past perfect, (in addition to my present perfect example), not as an inverted 3rd conditional (to use an ESL/EFL term) as Jen has interpreted. It looks a bit strange on its own, but can perfectly well be a question.
He looked starving. Had he had breakfast this morning? she wondered. "Would you like something to eat?", she asked.
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Hacovo
November 30, 2011, 3:12pm
Not an attempt to incite wrath, but a genuine query: wouldn't that be "He looked starved"? or can "He looked starving." be correct?
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Warsaw Will
December 2, 2011, 4:31am
@Hacovo - No wrath incited. For me there is a difference in meaning. In British English, at least, 'starving' just means very hungry. 'God, I'm starving. What's for supper?', but 'starved' is rather stronger - 'That dog looks starved. Haven't the owners being feeding it properly?'
As I thought, it's a BrE/AmE thing. Scroll down to idioms:
http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dic...
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Hacovo
December 6, 2011, 9:41am
True, I'm American (guilty, sadly).
What you say makes perfect sense. In my head I think 'starved - to starve due to an imposed restriction of food; starving - beyond hungry'. The second being something that could be self-imposed, or simply due to busy-ness or the like.
Thanks for the culture lesson :)
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Aeomer
January 11, 2012, 7:07am
It's fine as an example of pre-WW1 English. Many more Germanic (or should that be germanic ) English constructs all but died out by the 1950s. If you are writing a period drama, the following two are correct.
"Had he breakfast this morning?" - Spoken, rising intonation.
"Has he breakfasted this morning?" - Spoken, rising intonation.
As for me, I say "Had he breakfast this morning?" to stand out from my peers.
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porsche
January 13, 2012, 1:28pm
Compare the French question constructions of either inverting subject and verb, or preceding sentence with "est-ce que". Usually either is correct.
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