James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher
Encyclopedia
"James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher" is an English sentence
used to demonstrate lexical ambiguity
and the necessity of punctuation
,
which serves as a substitute for the intonation
,
stress
and pauses found in human speech
.
In human information processing research, the sentence has been used to show how readers depend on punctuation to give sentences meaning, especially in the context of scanning across lines of text.
The example refers to two students, James and John, who are required by an English test to describe a man who, in the past, had had a cold. John writes "The man had a cold" which is incorrect grammatically in this case, while James writes the correct "The man had had a cold". Since James' answer was right, it had had a better effect on the teacher.
The sentence can be understood more clearly by adding punctuation and quotation marks:
to give it meaning. Hans Reichenbach
used a similar sentence in 1947 as an exercise to the reader ("John where Jack…"), to illustrate the different levels of language, namely object language
and metalanguage
.
In research showing how people make sense of information in their environment, this sentence was used to demonstrate how arbitrary decisions can drastically change meaning, analogous to how changes in the punctuation and quotes in the sentence show that the teacher alternately prefers James' work and John's work. ('James, while John had had "had," had...', or 'James, while John had had "had had,"...')
The sentence is also used to show the semantic
vagueness of the word "had", as well as to demonstrate the difference between using a word and mentioning a word.
It has also been used as an example of how complex language can get while still being syntactically
correct.
Sentence (linguistics)
In the field of linguistics, a sentence is an expression in natural language, and often defined to indicate a grammatical unit consisting of one or more words that generally bear minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it...
used to demonstrate lexical ambiguity
Ambiguity
Ambiguity of words or phrases is the ability to express more than one interpretation. It is distinct from vagueness, which is a statement about the lack of precision contained or available in the information.Context may play a role in resolving ambiguity...
and the necessity of punctuation
Punctuation
Punctuation marks are symbols that indicate the structure and organization of written language, as well as intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud.In written English, punctuation is vital to disambiguate the meaning of sentences...
,
which serves as a substitute for the intonation
Intonation (linguistics)
In linguistics, intonation is variation of pitch while speaking which is not used to distinguish words. It contrasts with tone, in which pitch variation does distinguish words. Intonation, rhythm, and stress are the three main elements of linguistic prosody...
,
stress
Stress (linguistics)
In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or sentence. The term is also used for similar patterns of phonetic prominence inside syllables. The word accent is sometimes also used with this sense.The stress placed...
and pauses found in human speech
Speech
Speech is the human faculty of speaking.It may also refer to:* Public speaking, the process of speaking to a group of people* Manner of articulation, how the body parts involved in making speech are manipulated...
.
In human information processing research, the sentence has been used to show how readers depend on punctuation to give sentences meaning, especially in the context of scanning across lines of text.
The example refers to two students, James and John, who are required by an English test to describe a man who, in the past, had had a cold. John writes "The man had a cold" which is incorrect grammatically in this case, while James writes the correct "The man had had a cold". Since James' answer was right, it had had a better effect on the teacher.
The sentence can be understood more clearly by adding punctuation and quotation marks:
Usage
The sentence can be given as a grammatical puzzle or an item on a test, for which one must find the proper punctuationPunctuation
Punctuation marks are symbols that indicate the structure and organization of written language, as well as intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud.In written English, punctuation is vital to disambiguate the meaning of sentences...
to give it meaning. Hans Reichenbach
Hans Reichenbach
Hans Reichenbach was a leading philosopher of science, educator and proponent of logical empiricism...
used a similar sentence in 1947 as an exercise to the reader ("John where Jack…"), to illustrate the different levels of language, namely object language
Object language
An object language is a language which is the "object" of study in various fields including logic, linguistics, mathematics and theoretical computer science. The language being used to talk about an object language is called a metalanguage...
and metalanguage
Metalanguage
Broadly, any metalanguage is language or symbols used when language itself is being discussed or examined. In logic and linguistics, a metalanguage is a language used to make statements about statements in another language...
.
In research showing how people make sense of information in their environment, this sentence was used to demonstrate how arbitrary decisions can drastically change meaning, analogous to how changes in the punctuation and quotes in the sentence show that the teacher alternately prefers James' work and John's work. ('James, while John had had "had," had...', or 'James, while John had had "had had,"...')
The sentence is also used to show the semantic
Semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata....
vagueness of the word "had", as well as to demonstrate the difference between using a word and mentioning a word.
It has also been used as an example of how complex language can get while still being syntactically
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
correct.
See also
- Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
- List of linguistic example sentences
- That that is is that that is not is not is that it it isThat that is is that that is not is not is that it it isThat that is is that that is not is not is that it it is is an English word sequence demonstrating lexical ambiguity. It is used as an example illustrating the importance of proper punctuation....
- Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone DenLion-Eating Poet in the Stone DenThe Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den is a famous example of constrained writing by Yuen Ren Chao which consists of 92 characters, all with the sound shi in different tones when read in Mandarin....