"Have" redux: the rare triple-aux

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Jan 24, 2010, at 7:22 PM, Larry Horn wrote:

> ... Aikman points out "A huge return. He probably gets a
> little more yardage had he have/of not have stumbled."

even more complicated than the example we looked at in September 2007:
   Had Carlos had been looking into the backfield ...

at the time, i entertained two possibilities for this example: (1)
"had ... had" represented a "double perfect", a well-attested (though
non-standard) pattern, or (2) the clause was a blend of two
counterfactual constructions ("had Carlos been looking" and "if Carlos
had been looking").

the current example might involve *both* a double perfect *and* a
blend -- a blend of
   "had he have not have stumbled"
and
   "if he had have not have stumbled".

arnold

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