Two students, James and John, were given a writing assignment... They were each to write a sentence describing a man who, in the past, suffered from a cold. James wrote ""The man had a cold,"" but the teacher said that was incorrect. John wrote ""The man had had a cold,"" which the teacher was pleased with. So: John, while James had had ""had,"" had had ""had had."" ""Had had"" had had a better effect on the teacher.