Good afternoon Grammar Monster and Forum,

A further question has arisen.

He had or He has had...? As in 'he had a good year' or 'he has had a good year?

Sometimes you can tell by reading but there must be a technical answer and so far website, book and notes on the Forum haven't resolved this one.

Any answers, advice or references are very welcome.

thank you

Bas

A hard question.

Have a look through the different past tenses from this page.

'he had a good year' = 'he has had a good year'

Well, here's my 5 pence worth on this one; I hope it helps:
I would use 'he has had' if the year was not yet over. Eg, 'he has had a good year, so far' but you can miss out the words 'so far' as they are implied by the word 'has'. If the year is over, then I would say 'he had a good year'.