--I wish I could have had the guts to tell him he was wrong.
--I wish I had had the guts to tell him he was wrong.
--I would I would have had the guts to tell him he was wrong.
It looks to me like "had had" does the job just fine.
Joanna
ravi wrote:
>At around 2/12/05 8:54 am, Carrol Cox wrote:
>
>
>>"W. Kiernan" wrote:
>>
>>
>>>ravi wrote:
>>> > Doug Henwood wrote:
>>> >
>>> > > After Packer's talk, I politely asked him if he
>>> > > regretted his support for the war. He did. "I wish
>>> > > I would have had more information at the time," he
>>> > > told me.
>>> >
>>> > "Would have had" -- what's that called in grammar: past continuous?
>>>
>>>I think it's something like a past imperfect. Between "had had," "could
>>>have had," and "would have had" I hear distinct shades of meaning aroud
>>>the difference between "can" and "will." "Had had" is impersonal.
>>>"Could have had" implies that having that information was impossible,
>>>i.e., not having it was nobody's fault. "Would have had" seems to put
>>>an agent who willfully held back information from Packer.
>>>
>>>
>>I'm not sure of this interesting set of distinctions, but granting them,
>>clearly "would have had" is the correct wording ...
>>
>>
>>
>
>I don't know... "I wish I would have had" sounds just wrong to my
>ears... but you are the English professor...
>
> --ravi
>
>
>
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