A grammatically valid sentence in English containing seven "that"'s in a row?

Question

About 20 years ago on a forum now long gone, someone posted the above question. After people had had a chance to try it, he also posted the answer. I no longer remember the answer but really wish I did.

The answer was not along the lines of "I want that, that, that, that, that, that, and that."

Anyone have any ideas?

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_linguistic_example_sentences — Engineer Toast, Jun 23 '15 at 17:03
sorry, I wandered off for a few years. I've ticked a correct answer. :) — MWT, Apr 29 '16 at 19:23

score 16 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 17 '20 at 08:22

16

Found it:

"It is true for all that that that that that that that refers to is not the same that that that that refers to."

Meaning:

It is true for all that, that that "that" which that "that" refers to is not the same "that" which that "that" refers to.

Or perhaps more clearly: It is true, despite everything you say, that this word to which this word refers is not the same word to which this word refers.

For a clearer parsing: HERE

This one has 5:

"He said that that that that that boy used was incorrect."

Meaning:

He said that a particular boy's particular usage of the word "that" was incorrect

edited Jun 17 '20 at 08:22

Community

1

answered Oct 06 '14 at 21:40

d'alar'cop

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Here's a comedic related one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That_that_is_is_that_that_is_not_is_not_is_that_it_it_is – d'alar'cop Oct 06 '14 at 21:41
you could string together an infinite "that that, that" as each one is narrowing down the object – Keltari Oct 09 '14 at 21:01
@Keltari you're right. – d'alar'cop Oct 18 '14 at 15:29
Wow, this is amazingly surprising! I never considered that that that sentence was possible. – Mark N Jun 23 '15 at 16:52
Related to James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher – Ian Mar 26 '18 at 12:21

A grammatically valid sentence in English containing seven "that"'s in a row?

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