[Grammar] She had not the slightest idea what to do with it

[Ferdie11]

Hi,

The first sentence comes from a book. I posted it here because I was wondering if this was grammatically correct, as I haven't encountered this kind of structure before. Would you please tell me whether this is correct or not. Is the second one better?

>She had not the slightest idea what to do with it.

>She did not have the slightest idea what to do with it.


Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[corum]

>She had not the slightest idea what to do with it.

formal, uncommon, old, correct

>She did not have the slightest idea what to do with it.

normal, correct

 

[Raymott]

Hi,

The first sentence comes from a book. I posted it here because I was wondering if this was grammatically correct, as I haven't encountered this kind of structure before. Would you please tell me whether this is correct or not. Is the second one better?

>She had not the slightest idea what to do with it.

>She did not have the slightest idea what to do with it.


Thanks in advance for your help.

They're both correct, and both common where I come from.
However, you'd normally say them, "She hadn't the .... She didn't have the ...."

 

[5jj]

They're both correct, and both common where I come from.
However, you'd normally say them, "She hadn't the .... She didn't have the ...."

I was about to write a message, when I saw that Ray had posted this. So, I'll just say, 'I agree'.