22

What are some examples of awkward sounding but grammatically correct sentences?

Lauren
  • 275
Steve Vermeulen
  • 101
  • 1
  • 2
  • 6
  • 5
    For grammarians who don't want to strand prepositions, shouldn't the best sentence construction be: "About whom is this story?" :) – Kosmonaut Sep 03 '10 at 13:21
  • I haven't had this much fun with English since I don't know when. Thank you! – Mei Jan 14 '11 at 00:17
  • Also: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/17478/analyzing-will-ferrells-i-thought-joke – Marthaª Mar 30 '11 at 00:27

15 Answers15

72

"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo."

Doug
  • 1,699
  • 2
  • 15
  • 20
41

That that exists exists in that that that that exists exists in.

An̲̳̳drew
  • 101
27

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"
Seamus
  • 2,787
  • 44
    Or 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’”. – nohat Sep 07 '10 at 16:50
  • 14
    And he writes back saying... oh never mind... – Seamus Sep 07 '10 at 17:19
22

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

b.roth
  • 21,782
  • 6
    If 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. – Timwi Sep 09 '10 at 01:26
21

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.

Robusto
  • 151,571
11

Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which we will not put.
— Someone who was not Winston Churchill

terdon
  • 21,559
kajaco
  • 899
  • If you're going to attribute it to Churchill, please get the quotation right. – moioci Sep 03 '10 at 22:42
  • 3
    @moioci--If you're going to point out an error, please provide evidence that it's incorrect. I found this link: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/churchill.html – kajaco Sep 04 '10 at 14:16
  • 2
    Even 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. – ShreevatsaR Sep 09 '10 at 07:35
  • 3
    Oh BTW, I don't think this counts as a grammatically correct sentence; it's not grammatical to split "put up" like that. – ShreevatsaR Sep 09 '10 at 07:36
  • This wasn't Churchill anyway. That's a misattribution no longer to be put up with. – RegDwigнt Oct 10 '12 at 10:26
  • 1
    What did you bring that story I don't like to be read to out of up for? – Joe Z. Jun 27 '16 at 14:01
10

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.

psmears
  • 16,391
8

How about some semantic awkwardness?

"Colorless green ideas sleep furiously" —Noam Chomsky

Charlie
  • 6,077
7

"The horse raced past the barn fell."

grautur
  • 663
  • 1
  • 7
  • 8
5

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."

Sam
  • 5,430
5

My grandfather's favorite is:

What noise annoys an oyster?

Mike Christian
  • 1,337
2

Try this one. Who polices the police? Police police police police. Who polices the police police? Police police police police police police. Etc.

Kate Gregory
  • 9,671
2

I know this one:

Time times time times time squared equals time times time times time times time

Thursagen
  • 41,919
1

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.

oosterwal
  • 7,391
1

That that is is that that is not is not is that it it is

whoabackoff
  • 2,805