Please clarify usage of had
There are some questions in which had + verb-ed is for sequencing of events and there are others wherein it is used alone(without verb-ed) and signifies past tense.
Please clarify had usage. Also I have seen in some questions that had+verb-ed specify sequence of events and had is used to specify later event rather than an earlier one. Is it an exception to sequencing rule?
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- sakshig614
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Re: usage of had
You've already got it right. 
Had plus an -ed verb indicates the past perfect tense, which is used to show that something happened prior to some other past event:
By the time they arrived, we had finished washing the dishes.
Had without any other verb is just the past tense of the verb 'have', as in 'possess':
She had a pony when she was young.
If it helps, you can think of "helper had" and "solo had" as being totally different words that just happen to be spelled and pronounced the same way (isn't English great?).
As for your second question, can you give an example?
Had plus an -ed verb indicates the past perfect tense, which is used to show that something happened prior to some other past event:By the time they arrived, we had finished washing the dishes.
Had without any other verb is just the past tense of the verb 'have', as in 'possess':
She had a pony when she was young.
If it helps, you can think of "helper had" and "solo had" as being totally different words that just happen to be spelled and pronounced the same way (isn't English great?).
As for your second question, can you give an example?
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