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Only one is correct. Explain per item your choice and others alternatives are not correct. Please consider grammar concepts.

Which of the alternatives is grammatically correct?

A) Joshua had had his car washed.
B) Joshua did his car washed.
C) Joshua has had his car washed.
D) Joshua has being having his car washed.

Could you please explain with grammar?

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    Hi Destiny. Welcome to ELL. Please take a look at the tips on writing good questions. You could improve this question by editing it to show what research you've done to answer the question on your own, to note what you think the right answer might be, and to explain what you find difficult or confusing. ell.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic
    – Tashus
    Commented Jan 9, 2019 at 20:10
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    Unfortunately, more than one is correct, so I expect whoever wrote this question is not as familiar with English as they think.
    – Andrew
    Commented Jan 9, 2019 at 21:15

1 Answer 1

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Both A) and C) are grammatically correct, however, they have slightly different meanings.

had had is the past perfect of have

A simple version of the sentence without the past perfect:

Joshua had his car washed

Saying had had his car washed puts it further in the past.

Additionally has had is also correct, because it's the present perfect tense of have

The present perfect tense tends to link something in the past with the present

So depending on the context, either A) or C) could be correct. They could be interpreted as meaning the same thing, but had had technically implies something is further in the past than has had does.

With more context the difference between past perfect and present perfect is more apparent:

Joshua had had his car washed at one point several years ago.

vs.

Joshua has had his car washed once a month for the last year.

In this example had had suggests Joshua had his car washed once a long time ago. In the second example, it's clear Joshua has had his car washed once a month in the past, with the implication that he still does.

Both B) and D) have systemic verb usage/agreement issues

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