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The task is to find the longest intelligible and grammatical English sentence containing only words of two or fewer letters.

To limit the possibilities, you may use only the following words:

  1. Single letter words, "I" (pronoun), "A" or "a" (indefinite article)

  2. Two letter words listed here https://www.lexico.com/explore/two-letter-words

Punctuation is allowed as long as it doesn't end the sentence prematurely.

This is a competition. I hope that's allowed. I'll start by introducing myself (or at least my gender).

I am a he, Hi!

Note: Hints about which tags to use, gratefully accepted.

Rand al'Thor
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chasly - supports Monica
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    Can I use the same word twice in a sentence? – Goose Jul 02 '20 at 00:23
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    What counts as an "intelligible and grammatical English sentence" must be precisely specified -- as-is, the question is subjective. (In addition, it is 'open-ended' in a way that's very similar to the type discussed in this meta post, making it off-topic for this site.) – Deusovi Jul 02 '20 at 00:36
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    Put a time limit like a week or so, and then accept an answer. Really interesting question by the way. – Ankit Jul 02 '20 at 00:38
  • Try putting this question in english language use SE. Its a shame that it' s not allowed on puzzling. – Ankit Jul 02 '20 at 01:22
  • I imagine it might be a sentence with structure similar to "if he is XX, or if he is XX, or if he is XX...so am I." –  Jul 02 '20 at 01:35
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    Famous motivational quote consisting of only two-letter words: "If it is to be, it is up to me." – RobPratt Jul 02 '20 at 02:31
  • Thanks for all the feedback. I'll try to redesign and then submit a new improved version. – chasly - supports Monica Jul 02 '20 at 09:49
  • @Deusovi - I think I can salvage this, but I'll have to create a new question. Can I sandbox my new improved version on Meta before resubmitting? – chasly - supports Monica Jul 02 '20 at 09:55
  • @chaslyfromUK I don't think it's likely that it can be easily "salvaged" - this question seems to be inherently open-ended in the same way that linked meta post explains, and it also seems to depend on the precise grammar of English. (But I'm not ruling it out entirely.) I don't think we have a sandbox post for non-riddles -- I'm sure if you mentioned it in chat, though, people would be happy to give feedback. – Deusovi Jul 02 '20 at 16:31
  • @ Deusovi - Thanks for your reply and the suggestion to use chat. I notice that there is a current question (very popular and rightly so IMO) that has been shown to have infinite answers - it's still open as I write. I can certainly avoid this trap in one stroke with a rewrite. I just need to define the grammar more carefully. – chasly - supports Monica Jul 02 '20 at 17:34

1 Answers1

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Here's an interesting observation: conjunctions like or or so are very powerful, they allow you to link multiple short sentences together

I am a he or he is a he, so I am an ox or he is an ox.

You could theoretically make a sentence infinitely long that's technically grammatically correct (even though it makes no sense)

I am an ox, so I am an ox, so I am an ox, so I am an ox, so I am an ox, so I am an ox, so...

Guess it really depends on the definition of intelligible and grammatical English sentence

thesilican
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