Though he had had success broadcasting his controversial radio program on highly regulated terrestrial airwaves, Howard Stern opted out of terrestrial broadcasting in favor of the less regulated satellite radio medium.
a) Though he had had
b)Though he has had
c) Even though he had
d) Having had
e) Having achieved

The answr is a).

My doubt : Why is c) not correct answer ?

When to use "had had" and when to use "had"?

Replace the verb "had" with "earned" and you'll see it immediately. We need a past perfect verb in the first half of the sentence, since the second half happens after the first but still in the past. Past perfect verbs usually include "had" along with a past participle. The confusing thing here is that the past participle is also the word "had"; but we do need both of them because they serve two different purposes..

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Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor

Tim,
Can you elaborate on your explanation by using an example?

Thanks

Before i had success as a Manhattan GMAT instructor, i had had success taking the GMAT..

i would prefer to replace the non-past perfect instances of "had" with "experienced" in the sentence above, but the sentence as written works and hopefully helps you see when each construction would be used..

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Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor

thanks Tim, your explanation is great. replacing the 2nd had with either earned or experienced explains things well.

i chose C as the answer and only other thing i don't get in the answer explanations is that 'even though' is wordy. even and though are very commonly used together, despite having the same meaning.

what is your GMAT perspective on this?

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Ashish
Share not just why the right answer is right, but also why the wrong ones are not.

I think the perspective would be that the "even" is unnecessary so just go with "though". "Even" doesn't add anything of importance to the sentence. It's yet another one of those times that your ear is not that helpful, since I agree that "even though" is more commonly used in spoken communication than "though".

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Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor

sounds good, Jamie. thanks

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Ashish
Share not just why the right answer is right, but also why the wrong ones are not.

Good, you are welcome.

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Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor

I found searched this thread on the forum, and I am still a little confused as to why the answer is A.

If had is used for the double past, then Howard Stern's success happened before he opted out.

One thing (Stern's success) happened in the past, before another thing in the past (opting out for satelite radio). Is that not the double past?

Thanks

Hi Milanproda,

Not sure I fully understand your doubts. Please post back if you require more clarification.

The use of past perfect here is to show the timeline of two past events. Past perfect is used for the event that happened first - "success broadcasting his controversial radio program on highly regulated terrestrial airwaves". Simple Past is used for the event that happened after the first event - "opted out of terrestrial broadcasting in favor of the less regulated satellite radio medium"


I am assuming that when you say double past, then you are referring to an earlier event in the past with reference to a later event also in the past.


I will explain this using a fictional time reference:

1939: Stern had success broadcasting his controversial radio program on highly regulated terrestrial airwaves
1943: Stern opted out of terrestrial broadcasting in favor of the less regulated satellite radio medium

To refer to both these events in a single sentence, we need the use of past perfect to show that the first event took place before the second but both of them were in the past.

Hope this helps

Regards

Sunil

Sunil,

Thanks a bunch for your response.

Here is what I do not understand: Howard Stern HAD success, and OPTED out. Wouldn't one had be enough to show that his success came before his opting out? Why the two hads?

I realize I am wrong here, I just want to understand the reasoning so I don't get hooked the next time I get run into a question like this.

Hey,

No problem.

I understand your doubt now and it is a good question. The answer is in Tim's first post:

"Success" is not playing the part of a verb, in fact I think it is a noun.

Hope this helps

Regards

Sunil

Thanks Sunil!

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Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor

Thanks everyone for the elaborate discussion.I was not clear why "had had" is correct in the sentence.I stand corrected now.

Cheers,
Rohan

Great to hear!

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Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor