MetaWraith
02-12-2003, 15:56
After seeing Nemesis's thread it brought to mind a very old punctuation exercise, which upon a little searching I confirmed is now spread throught the internet.
Here it is for you to puzzle over.
The following sentence is grammatically correct, it just needs to be given the correct punctuation.
Ann while Bob had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher.
Think before scrolling down for the answer.
Here's the answer and an explanation.
Ann, while Bob had had "had", had had "had had". "Had had" had had a better effect on the teacher.
It has to do with grammar. "Had had" is the past participle and Bob had [written] the wrong answer on his homework (or whatever), which was "had". Ann had [written] the correct answer, which was "had had". Thus, While Bob had had "had" [on his paper], Ann had had "had had" on her paper. The fact that Ann had "had had" on her paper made the teacher happy.
Clear as mud now :)
Here it is for you to puzzle over.
The following sentence is grammatically correct, it just needs to be given the correct punctuation.
Ann while Bob had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher.
Think before scrolling down for the answer.
Here's the answer and an explanation.
Ann, while Bob had had "had", had had "had had". "Had had" had had a better effect on the teacher.
It has to do with grammar. "Had had" is the past participle and Bob had [written] the wrong answer on his homework (or whatever), which was "had". Ann had [written] the correct answer, which was "had had". Thus, While Bob had had "had" [on his paper], Ann had had "had had" on her paper. The fact that Ann had "had had" on her paper made the teacher happy.
Clear as mud now :)