Stupid teacher.
The teacher asked her class to “punctuate the following”:
john where jill had had had had had had had had had the examiners approval
The class struggled.
Joshua raised is hand. “Excuse me, Miss,” he said, “but aren’t you missing a ‘had had’ or maybe just a ‘had’?”
And, indeed, she had. Had she had “had had” (or even had ‘had’) then the students would have had a chance.
Stupid teacher.
(OK – for those who don’t know:
John, where Jill had had “had”, had had “had had”. “Had had” had had the examiner’s approval.
OR:
John where Jill had had “had had”, had had “had”. “Had had” had had the examiner’s approval.
In the first instance John was correct; in the second, Jill was correct!)