Learn English – What tense is this sentence in? “Having had”

tense

What tense is this sentence in?

For those who are already teaching without having had specific training and for practiced teachers …

Is it a special structure?
What would happen if I removed "had"?
What are other alternatives?

Best Answer

It's possible to express present participles or gerunds in the perfect tenses or more accurately with the perfect aspect (whether or not a verb is "perfect" is technically an aspect and not a tense).

I have gone to the store.

Having gone to the store before, I already knew who the cashier was.

Her having gone to the store is the evidence we needed to establish her as innocent.

Have can of course has present perfect, past perfect, etc. forms like any other verb. Thus having had would be have had in participle or gerund form.

As having had is an object of the preposition without, it is functioning as noun, and therefore a gerund.

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