Unnecessary use of "had"

Another grammar pet peeve that likely was brought up in a past thread ...

It's especially bad with AP and the word "had." "North Korea had been given an ultimatium in August." How about "North Korea was given an ultimatium in August"?

That's not the best example, but I notice it all the time in AP copy.

That's all.

 

I agree, and I'll do you one better.

Who gave the ultimatum?

Active voice is preferred.

 

I'm anal about some of this stuff.

Of course, I barely can figure out when the extra that should be thrown in. I'm still working on it.

 

Necessary use of had:

You had me at hello.

 

I had to finish on her grille.

 

Had I not clicked on this thread, I would not have had 30 seconds of my life wasted.

 

I hope it's not the one you cook hamburgers on.

 

She had not intended to let me go ass-to-mouth, but I had wanted to for years and did it anyway.

 

We've all been had.

Carry on.

 

I had had enough of the had hating until I clicked on this thread.

 

It's called pluperfect tense. It's used to describe an action that took place before the action being originally described.

 

Fixed for grammatical purposes.