Haven't or hadn't?

Nonicks · Nov 10, 2020

Hi everybody!

So my story is written in third person POV. If I have this sentence:

"She gaped at him as if she hadn't seen him in over a decade"

Should it be hadn't or haven't? The novel is not written in the present tense, so I thought it's hadn't, but a friend said it should be haven't. Which one is correct?

Thanks in advance!

Maryn · Nov 10, 2020

It's definitely hadn't. This friend probably isn't the best reader for grammar issues, although s/he remains a good friend, I hope.

There isn't a usage I can think of where "she haven't" is ever correct. Might your friend not be a native English speaker?

Maryn, who misses her friends

ChaseJxyz · Nov 10, 2020

If you were writing language down as one literally speaks it, it would probably be "haven't." But as we don't really do that in writing, it should probably be the more "correct" thing, which would be "hadn't." I'm sure there is a time and place when writing dialogue such as "She went to the thing and got the......shoot what's the word, hold on, uhhhhhhh right! She got the thing at the Post Office. Package, that's it!" but that wouldn't be very fun to read, even though that's more like how people actually speak in real life. So yeah, you should probably use "hadn't."

Nonicks · Nov 10, 2020

Thank you!!

Chris P · Nov 11, 2020

"Hadn't" is correct. With contractions, try it with the full words spelled out: "like she had not seen him" versus "like she have not seen him." Sounds totally different and it's clear the first one is correct.

I use this trick all the time for its/it's and whose/who's.

Haven't or hadn't?

Nonicks

Maryn

At Sea

ChaseJxyz

Writes 🏳️‍⚧️🌕🐺 and 🏳️‍⚧️🌕🐺 accessories

Nonicks

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred