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Are there other repeated single word sentences like the Buffalo sentence?

Are there words in English like had that can be repeated while still making sense? For example,

He had had quite enough of this nonsense.

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related or duplicate? :english.stackexchange.com/q/2459/8183 – Thursagen Aug 13 '11 at 11:46
Actually it's a duplicate of the first one. I already voted though... – Alenanno Aug 13 '11 at 12:04
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Is this really a duplicate? The other question (somewhat) ANSWERS this question, but someone searching for this question will never find that one. – Jeremy Aug 13 '11 at 12:59
This question is asking for other types of this kind of sentence. This question clearly has many answers listing all the alternatives. That makes this a duplicate. – Alenanno Aug 13 '11 at 13:14
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Hello and thanks for your good question! It is such a good question, it has been asked before, so your question has been closed as a duplicate. If you read that post and still don't feel that your question has been answered, then please feel free to edit this question to reflect what part of the answer in the duplicate you find confusing. If you have questions about why your post was closed, please leave a comment here or ask on Meta. – KitFox♦ Aug 13 '11 at 15:08
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marked as duplicate by Thursagen, Alenanno, JSBձոգչ, Alain Pannetier Φ, KitFox♦ Aug 13 '11 at 15:05

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4 Answers

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That that occurs sometimes. It sometimes means that which, and sometimes just that that, as in I know that that will not work.

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+1: It also means that that, as in "He wanted a restful weekend, but John knew that that was no longer an option." – Robusto Aug 13 '11 at 11:48
@Robusto Definitely; thanks! – Daniel δ Aug 13 '11 at 11:51
up vote 4 down vote

There's a whole bunch of words that function as more than one part of speech (albeit with different pronunciations). You can probably construct acceptable phrases from some of these. Here are 3 that come to mind:

  • to record record profits
  • to address address problems
  • to refuse refuse charges
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Though of course these aren't literally repetitions of "the same word" (try pronouncing them). – Neil Coffey Aug 13 '11 at 14:01
@Neil. Agreed, I was cheating with my examples although I do pronounce 'address' (noun / verb) the same. Interestingly, there's a post on today's [Language Log] (languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3361 ) about the repetition of is, as in: I think the point is is that this is metaphor with teeth. – Shoe Aug 13 '11 at 14:48
@Shoe: with a slightly different antecedent, that sentence might easily have been “I think the point is is that that is metaphor with teeth.” — a double is, followed by a double that. New contrived-writing challenge: how many doubles in a row can you fit into a sentence? :-P – PLL Aug 13 '11 at 16:24
up vote 2 down vote

One way this arises very simply and commonly is the repetition of adjectives and adverbs for emphasis:

We were going really, really fast!

I had a strange, strange dream last night.

On a different tack, there’s the interesting case of What it is, is…, discussed previously here and here.

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That that is is; that that is not is not. – Daniel δ Aug 13 '11 at 16:30
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Another example is the word "buffalo", which is repeated eight times in the following sentence.

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

Note that, according to the following Wikipedia link, it is a perfectly valid sentence.

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo...

As for "had had", take a look at the following Wikipedia link.

James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher

Other linguistic examples of this sort are given in the following link.

List of linguistic example sentences

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