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I am trying to create a phrase structure tree for the sentence

All the faith he had had had had no effect on the outcome of his life.

Many people are familiar with this sentence I am sure. The verb phrase I understand, but what about "he had had?" "All the faith" is the noun phrase Det-Det-N, but what about the rest of the noun phrase? What is "he had had" and how can I write this into my phrase structure tree?

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  • It's All the faith [that] he had had. You have a reduced relative clause modifying faith. The subject of the relative clause is he, and the verb is the past perfect of to have, namely had had. Does that help or hurt?
    – deadrat
    Commented Mar 30, 2016 at 23:03

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[ All the faith [he had had] ]

The inner bracketed element (he had had) is a relative clause modifying and combining with "faith", to give the noun phrase All the faith (that) he had had.

Within the relative clause, "he" is subject, "had had" the verb string, and the noun "faith" is the object of the second "had".

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