Repetitive use of words, drink and some

Question

I have made up the sentences below.(1) I don't want to drink my drink right now because I'm not thirty.(2) Some people are angrily criticizing some dishonest people who always cheat the elderly.Most of my non-native English speaking friends think (1) sounds awkward and (2) sounds okay.However, my other friends think there's nothing wrong with using the same word twice in one sentence.Do you agree with them? Thank you very much.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

ansonguy
I have made up the sentences below.
(1) I don't want to drink my drink right now because I'm not thirsty. ['thirty' and 'thirsty' are very different words! ]
(2) Some people are angrily criticizing some dishonest people who always cheat the elderly.
Most of my non-native English speaking friends think (1) sounds awkward and (2) sounds okay.
However, my other friends think there's nothing wrong with using the same word twice in one sentence.
Do you agree with them? Thank you very much.

No, there's nothing wrong or ungrammatical about using the same word twice in the same sentence. However, it is avoided whenever possible. Words that are very commonly used, like 'the', 'a', 'of', and so on, are not the kinds of words that we are talking about here.

I'm inclined to say that (1) sounds fine in spite of the repetition, but that (2) is awkward. But the awkwardness in (2) is not because of the repetition of 'some'. The modifiers "dishonest" and "who cheat the elderly" are enough for us to know that the reference is to "some" and not "all" people, so the second "some" is just not necessary at all.

Some people are angrily criticizing dishonest people who cheat the elderly.

Nevertheless "some" is frequently repeated in sentences. That's not a problem. It's just that the repetition is rhetorical and not just haphazard. Note how the word "some" is used before different kinds of things in the same categories in the examples below:

During my service I attended many demonstrations, some violent, some non violent. 
Some businesses moved, some changed ownership, and some exciting new ones opened.
On the road, we have some lapses, do some things wrong, and do some things right.

CJ

Repetitive use of words, drink and some

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