What are some examples of awkward sounding but grammatically correct sentences?
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5For grammarians who don't want to strand prepositions, shouldn't the best sentence construction be: "About whom is this story?" :)– KosmonautCommented Sep 3, 2010 at 13:21
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I haven't had this much fun with English since I don't know when. Thank you!– MeiCommented Jan 14, 2011 at 0:17
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Also: english.stackexchange.com/questions/17478/…– MarthaªCommented Mar 30, 2011 at 0:27
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15 Answers
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in case wikipedia explodes and this site doesn't, and using "bison" as a substitute for buffalo the animal: Bison from the city of Buffalo which intimidate other bison from the city of Buffalo themselves intimidate other bison from the city of Buffalo.– ClaudiuCommented Oct 13, 2010 at 18:20
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14Rather: Bison from the city of Buffalo which are intimidated by other bison from the city of Buffalo themselves intimidate other bison from the city of Buffalo.– DougCommented Oct 15, 2010 at 16:49
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@Midhat Well, when I wrote that snarky comment this site was in beta...– SeamusCommented Nov 28, 2010 at 18:23
That that exists exists in that that that that exists exists in.
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2Nice — unlike the had-had sentence, this doesn't require any additional punctuation! Commented Sep 9, 2010 at 7:37
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13Brackets may help: (That that exists) exists in (that that (that that exists) exists in). [Or rewriting it, letting X stand for "that that exists": X exists in that that X exists in. X exists in whatever X exists in. X exists where it does.] Commented Sep 10, 2010 at 11:41
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Jim opens a cafe selling fish and chips. He has a sign made. It arrives and it says "fishandchips". So he rings up the sign company and says:
You need to put more space between "fish" and "and" and "and" and "chips"
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44Or rather, he writes the company and says “You need to put more space between fish and and and and and chips” and they write back, saying “in your request, you need to put quotation marks between ‘fish’ and ‘and’ and ‘and’ and ‘and’ and ‘and’ and ‘and’ and ‘and’ and ‘and’ and ‘and’ and ‘and’ and ‘and’ and ‘chips’”.– nohatCommented Sep 7, 2010 at 16:50
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6If you accept Had as a boy’s name... “In the English test, while Alice had had ‘had had’, Had had had ‘had’; had Had had ‘had had’, Had would have been correct.– TimwiCommented Sep 9, 2010 at 1:26
As far as awkward-sounding is concerned, I submit there are few sentences spoken in English that sound more awkward than:
Ed had edited it.
This is very hard to say in the rapid flow of conversation, and results in a sound something like:
Edədedədədit.
Try it for yourself, speaking quickly, and you'll see what I mean.
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8A friend showed me a similar one, "Jiggle it a little, it'll open."– TesserexCommented Jun 20, 2011 at 19:37
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10This reminds me of a (slightly dirty) joke: How do you titillate an ocelot? Oscillate its tit a lot.– MT_HeadCommented Jun 21, 2011 at 5:55
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@Tesserex I like that! In Yorkshire, how do people say "It is not in the tin"? - Tin tin tin.– MynamiteCommented Jan 27, 2013 at 2:41
Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which we will not put.
— Someone who was not Winston Churchill
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If you're going to attribute it to Churchill, please get the quotation right.– moiociCommented Sep 3, 2010 at 22:42
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3@moioci--If you're going to point out an error, please provide evidence that it's incorrect. I found this link: wsu.edu/~brians/errors/churchill.html– kajacoCommented Sep 4, 2010 at 14:16
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2Even though the quotation is apocryphal, the version you quoted is listed under "so scrambled it comes out backward" — the usual story has Churchill complaining about pedants insisting on not ending sentences with a preposition (and deliberately and ironically over-applying their rule), while your version has Churchill recommending the rule himself. Commented Sep 9, 2010 at 7:35
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3Oh BTW, I don't think this counts as a grammatically correct sentence; it's not grammatical to split "put up" like that. Commented Sep 9, 2010 at 7:36
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2What did you bring that story I don't like to be read to out of up for?– Joe Z.Commented Jun 27, 2016 at 14:01
In
I found John in an unenviable position.
there are the syllables "an", "en", "in", "on", "un" (i.e. all of "aeiou") run together. This makes it a little tricky to say.
How about some semantic awkwardness?
"Colorless green ideas sleep furiously" —Noam Chomsky
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9For grammatically correct meaningless sentences, I prefer Stephen Fry's sentence in his lovely "Language" sketch: "Hold the newsreader's nose squarely, waiter, or friendly milk will countermand my trousers." Commented Sep 9, 2010 at 7:42
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There is also the famous nonsense paragraph about "no soap" here: jstor.org/discover/10.2307/… Commented Mar 19, 2012 at 23:01
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Also: "'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves..." (Jabberwocky) Commented Mar 19, 2012 at 23:03
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My favorite example of sentences that seem difficult to parse Commented Feb 6, 2013 at 15:32
The article you linked has a few other examples of such sentences. As it says, "Any word that is both an animate plural noun and a transitive verb will work."
My grandfather's favorite is:
What noise annoys an oyster?
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Try this one. Who polices the police? Police police police police. Who polices the police police? Police police police police police police. Etc.
answered Mar 30, 2011 at 11:57
I know this one:
Time times time times time squared equals time times time times time times time
You'll probably want to put some punctuation in these:
Wouldn't the sentence "I want to put a hyphen between the words Fish and and and and and Chips in my 'Fish and Chips' sign" have been clearer if quotation marks had been placed before Fish, and between Fish and and, and and and and, and and and and, and and and and, and and and and, and and and Chips, as well as after Chips?
James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher.
answered Mar 30, 2011 at 14:06
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This is not grammatical, as it is missing punctuation. Commented Jun 28, 2012 at 3:47