A very weird exercise

[nq:1]I've just seen such an exercise: Put commas where necessary to make the sentence correct: In the exam John where ... night. I just cannot get what the author is trying to elicit. Is it a kind of joke or what?[/nq]
Some of those "commas" need to be of the "inverted" kind, and at least one needs to have its tail removed.

Evan Kirshenbaum + HP Laboratories >He who will not reaso

Evan Kirshenbaum filted:
[nq:2]I've just seen such an exercise: Put commas where necessary ... to elicit. Is it a kind of joke or what?[/nq]
[nq:1]Some of those "commas" need to be of the "inverted" kind, and at least one needs to have its tail removed.[/nq]
Alternatively, that one needs to be wearing a yarmulke..r

>
After a net search for "had had had had had had" you can rest easy.

Richard Maurer To reply, remove half
Sunnyvale, California of a homonym of a synonym for also.

[nq:1]Evan Kirshenbaum filted:[/nq]
[nq:2]Some of those "commas" need to be of the "inverted" kind, and at least one needs to have its tail removed.[/nq]
[nq:1]Alternatively, that one needs to be wearing a yarmulke..r[/nq]
I considered that, but there seems to be too much of a break for me to be comfortable with it.

Evan Kirshenbaum + HP Laboratories >This case and I must b

[nq:2]I've just seen such an exercise: Put commas where necessary ... to elicit. Is it a kind of joke or what?[/nq]
I rather like this commas-only version of the old chestnut I hadn't seen this variant before.
[nq:1]Some of those "commas" need to be of the "inverted" kind,[/nq]
Yes, as near as I can tell.
[nq:1]and at least one needs to have its tail removed.[/nq]
No. For examp

Hi,
Same as:
Question, punctuate this:
Kevin while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher.
Answer:
Kevin, while John had had "had", had had "had had". "Had had" had had a better effect on the teacher.
To explain in more detail:
John had had "had had" - as in John previously had "had" as his choice.

However, Kevin had had

[nq:1]I've just seen such an exercise: Put commas where necessary to make the sentence correct: In the exam John where ... night. I just cannot get what the author is trying to elicit. Is it a kind of joke or what?[/nq]
It is a kind of joke, and it is wrong. It cannot be corrected by adding only commas; it requires some quotation marks, a semicolon, and an apostrophe, also:
In the exam, Jo

[nq:1]Hi, Same as: Question, punctuate this: Kevin while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher.[/nq]
I think my favorite of this type is to correctly capitalize

buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo.
It's already correctly punctuated.

Evan Kirshenbaum + HP Laboratories >Never as

[nq:1]I've just seen such an exercise: Put commas where necessary to make the sentence correct: In the exam John where ... night. I just cannot get what the author is trying to elicit. Is it a kind of joke or what?[/nq]
This is a hoary old chestnut. It's actually two sentences.

In the exam, John, where Jane had had "had had", had had "had". "Had had" had had the examiner's approval.

[nq:1]I think my favorite of this type is to correctly capitalize buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo. It's already correctly punctuated.[/nq]
I don't know how to capitalize it, but if you added four and a half more animals we could all sing it to the tune of "The Irish Washerwoman".

Peter Moylan (Email Removed)