True or False: It is not grammatically correct to use the same word twice in the same sentence.
False!
Yes, there are some situations where it is not correct to use a word twice in the same sentence. We will examine this more closely in a moment. Most of the time, however, you can absolutely use the same word two (or more) times in the same sentence. Reread the opening sentence in this article–both “same” and “the” are used twice.
Sometimes it is a mistake.
First, let’s look at an example of when it actually is incorrect to use a word twice in the same sentence. See if you can find the error in the sentence below:
I sent the report to Javier, but he is out of the the office today.
Did you spot the mistake? When this type of error happens, the writer is usually making changes to a sentence and somehow ends up with “the the” or two other short, identical words right next to each other. It’s more of a typo than anything else. Once your eye catches the mistake, it’s pretty easy to fix.
Sometimes it is grammatically correct, but it sounds awkward.
Consider the following examples:
Please bring last month’s meeting minutes to the meeting on Thursday.
We are in the process of revising the employees’ vacation request process.
Our business is getting a lot of new business lately.
The above sentences are all grammatically correct, but they need some work in terms of style. The sentences with “meeting” and “process” will be easier to understand if those words are used just one time. Meanwhile, the first “business” can be taken out and replaced with the synonym “company”, which has the same meaning. Again, it isn’t wrong to use those words twice, but it will sound better if they are used only once.
Here are the three sentences again, with a few minor tweaks:
Please bring last month’s minutes to the meeting on Thursday.
We are revising the employees’ vacation request process.
Our company is getting a lot of new business lately.
Sometimes it is necessary.
There are times when you need to use a word two or more times in a sentence in order to make your meaning clear. Let’s look at one example:
Jeremy and Andrew will both be at the party, but Jeremy has to leave early because he has a basketball game.
If we don’t use “Jeremy” twice in the above sentence, the reader will be confused about which person has to leave the party early.
Here are a few other examples:
I have five cats and three dogs, but only the cats sleep in my room.
The pain in Grandpa’s foot isn’t as bad as the pain in his shoulder.
Laura was supposed to send me the tax documents and the insurance forms, but so far I have only received the insurance forms.
It is often necessary to use short, common words two or more times in the same sentence, especially articles (“the”, “a”, “an”, “some”) and prepositions (“of”, “at”, “to”, “in”). However, you want to be careful with conjunctions (“and”, “but”, “or”, “so”), which we covered in last week’s article.
In general, if you see that you have used a word two (or more) times in the same sentence, read through it again. Does the sentence sound awkward? Is there another way to write the sentence? Is there a synonym you could use to reduce repetition? Will the meaning be unclear if you don’t use that word more than once? If you still aren’t sure, click the link below to get some help from the editors at TextRanch.
If you are thinking only of grammar then this is a very common construction and doesn’t need to be avoided. The two «that»s are pronounced slightly differently when speaking. The first one would be with a schwa sound and the second fully pronounced with emphasis.
If it’s a stylistic choice then you have some options:
You could contract the «that is» to «that’s» to make it sound less clunky. «He mentioned that that’s the restaurant…»
You could also so this and drop the first «that». This would make it less formal so more suited to colloquial speech. This is what you’ve done in the second sentence you tried. «He mentioned that’s the restaurant…»
Or you could reorder the sentence to something like «He mentioned that his friend is working at that restaurant». However, this does slightly change the meaning so you would have to decide if it’s still appropriate.
Overall, I would say that the sentence is fine as it is. Colloquially I would contract the «that is» to «that’s» but that’s up to you.
The second sentence you tried is largely the same. The «earlier» doesn’t change the «that that» issue so would just depend on if you want to say «earlier» or not.
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Posted: Saturday, November 11, 2017 3:36:49 PM |
Joined: 2/17/2015
Posts: 894
Neurons: 4,947
I am going to make up two pairs of sentences below.
(1a) There is only 15ml of detergent in the bottle in the kitchen.
(1b) There is only 15ml of detergent in the bottle for the kitchen.
(2a) There is a mistake in question 5 in the physics solution manual.
(2b) There is a mistake for question 5 in the physics solution manual.
I am using «in» twice in the a’s.
Does that sound odd to native English speakers? If it does, should I change «in» to «for» as shown in the b’s?
Please help me. Thanks a lot.
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Posted: Saturday, November 11, 2017 3:51:44 PM |
Joined: 8/7/2017
Posts: 112
Neurons: 573
Both (1a) and (2a) are normal and common.
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Posted: Saturday, November 11, 2017 4:06:34 PM |
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There’s nothing wrong with using «in» twice in the same sentence. In fact, trying to avoid that repetition would effectively spoil the sentences.
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Posted: Saturday, November 11, 2017 4:09:43 PM |
Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 7/8/2010
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Yes, you use it as many times as you need.
The bottle is in the kitchen and the detergent is in the bottle.
‘for’ changes the meaning.
If you have just bought two cans of air freshener, and they are still in your shopping bag, you can say where they are supposed to go (what their
purpose
is). WHere they are destined for.
One is for the bathroom and one is for the kitchen. But once you take them out of the bag and put them in the bathroom or in the kitchen, they are in that room — in the kitchen.
The detergent is in a bottle in a box in a cupboard in the kitchen.
‘for’ often implies purpose. It doesn’t work for contents of a question.
If something exists within or inside something, it is
in
it.
The mistake is in the question.
The question is in the book.
There is mistake in a sentence in a question in one of the tests in the physics book.
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Posted: Monday, November 13, 2017 5:29:27 AM |
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Joined: 9/12/2011
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You can even have two words like ‘in’, in a row. . . 
Is there a cupboard to put the detergent in, in the kitchen?
When you speak such a sentence, the individual phrases are separated by changing tone of voice, pauses and so on.
It does not sound so bad at all — though one might
try
to re-phrase the sentence.
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Posted: Monday, November 13, 2017 5:52:46 AM |
Joined: 6/14/2009
Posts: 18,351
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Location: Brighton, England, United Kingdom
Robjen — there seem to have been a number of posts lately about whether one can use the same word twice in a sentence.
There is no grammatical rule which says one can’t. It’s purely a stylistic matter.
However, even if there were a rule, it would be almost impossible to abide by. The most commonly used words in English are prepositions, pronouns….all the «little» words which are like the nuts and bolts which hold a car together: — they are small but important. We HAVE to use them more than once in many sentences because they are performing different functions and are necessary to our understanding.
The thing about using the same word twice is *mainly* about adjective and adverbs, e.g.
«My parents took us to a lovely restaurant, where we had a lovely meal.» There are so many positive adjectives in English, a person appears not to understand this if they can’t think of any word other than «lovely», so we advise them to get rid of one.Besides which, it sounds boring to repeat the same one.
But it pertains to nouns as well: «We set out for the beach. When we got to the beach we parked the car. Then we walked from the car to the beach. Once on the beach we laid down our beach-towels for a nap.» That sort of thing comes into the «don’t use the same word» thing. As you can see, it makes it childish and boring to read.
Whereas Drago’s sentence «Is there a cupboard to put the detergent in, in the kitchen?» with two words exactly the same next to each other, could never be called boring!
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Posted: Monday, November 13, 2017 6:40:39 AM |
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Don’t go in inn in which there is no food.
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Posted: Monday, November 13, 2017 7:25:32 AM |
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Location: Livingston, Scotland, United Kingdom
Or a pub with no beer!
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Posted: Monday, November 13, 2017 7:41:35 AM |
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Of dear! I have a fear there’s no beer in here.
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Posted: Monday, November 13, 2017 1:28:28 PM |
Joined: 6/14/2009
Posts: 18,351
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Location: Brighton, England, United Kingdom
Ah Drago,
«Old Billy the blacksmith, first time in his life
Has gone home cold sober, to his darling wife
He walks in the kitchen, she says you’re early my dear?
Then he breaks down and tells her, the pubs got no beer.»
(My favourite verse)
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Posted: Monday, November 13, 2017 1:39:47 PM |
Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 9/12/2011
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It’s funny — it is so obviously Australian in phrasing and sentiment — but it is stated to be ‘traditional Irish’ or ‘Country & Western’.
I guess it’s because the most popular versions were by Slim Dusty and The Dubliners.
Apparently it was true. There was a shortage and the composer rode twenty miles from his farm to the pub, and found that they had no beer — so he went home and wrote the original poem.
[image not available]
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Posted: Monday, November 13, 2017 7:04:33 PM |
Joined: 6/14/2009
Posts: 18,351
Neurons: 59,731
Location: Brighton, England, United Kingdom
Geez, Drago — fancy knowing about Slim Dusty? The memories that name — and that song — bring crowding back of outback Queensland!
Not that I’m a C & W fan; but hell’s teeth — the distances of flat, featureless scrub, or desert where you could drive for an entire day without seeing another vehicle on the road!
And the only music you could pick up for mile after sweaty mile was Slim Dusty and Slim Dusty wannabees on all the very few «local» radio stations you picked up.
“And” seems to be surrounded by a lot of English myths that are taught to us in our youths. Luckily, most of these myths are false, and we need not worry about them. One such myth that this article will look into is using “and” more than once in the same sentence.
You can use “and” twice (or more) in a sentence. This mostly works when we are making a list of things, and we want to use “and” to emphasize the different things we are listing. We could also use it when one of the words within the list contains “and.”
Technically speaking, there is no limit to the amount of “and’s” we can use in a sentence.
- I like dogs, and cats, and squirrels, and ducks, and sheep, and fish, and cows.
The above sentence is grammatically correct. There is no reason we shouldn’t use “and” as many times as above. It helps to separate the individual parts of our list, which is better than simply writing:
- I like dogs, cats, squirrels, ducks, sheep, fish, and cows.
And to show you what we mean about a word already containing “and,” think about a food item that is made up of more than one thing. For example:
- I like lemon biscuits, chocolate biscuits, and strawberry and ginger biscuits.
“Strawberry and ginger” is the name of the flavor, so we include it as one entity, repeating the word “and.”
Is It Appropriate To Use “And” Multiple Times In A Sentence
You can use “and” as many times as you would like in most sentences. It is appropriate and grammatically correct. However, you shouldn’t use it to create a sentence that is much longer than a standard sentence would be before placing a comma.
Just because you’re using “and” to continue a point doesn’t mean you should use it every time. You can easily go overboard by using one too many “and’s,” which will make your sentence hard to read (and turn most people away from reading it).
You can see how many “and’s” might be over the top in the following example:
- When writing pronouns, I use him, and her, and me, and she, and we, and they, and I, and our, and his, and hers, and theirs, and yours.
While it might be good to list out everything like above, there are better ways to do it. If you’re going to include that many things in a list, you are better off with commas. Even better still, you should use “etc.” when you think you’ve gone far enough:
- When writing pronouns, I use him, her, me, she, we, etc.
Examples Of How To Use “And” Multiple Times In A Sentence
- I have a mother and a father, and a sister, but I don’t have a brother.
- You have made me an enemy and a friend, and I’m happy to be both.
- I am his girlfriend and his best friend, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
- I like lemon ice cream, strawberry ice cream, and chocolate and hazelnut ice cream.
- You should talk to him and me about this and find out whether we’re comfortable with it.
You don’t always need to make a full list with multiple “and” words. Instead, we can just use it twice or more to add a few extra people or nouns into a sentence. We could also use “and” to connect two nouns and then another to create a second clause if the context allows.
Can I Use “&” And “And” In The Same Sentence?
Certain sentences will also allow you to replace “and” with the “&” sign.
If you combine two objects, you might then want to use “and” to introduce a second clause. When this is the case, it’s sometimes likely to use “&” to combine those objects to help with the sentence structure and flow.
- My mom & dad will be here shortly, and I think it’s time for you to leave.
How Can I Avoid Using “And” Twice In A Sentence?
If you don’t like using “and” more than once in a sentence, you can simply replace “and” with a period if it starts a new clause. If you’ve instead used it to create a long list, replace it with commas, or add an “etc.” to end the list early.
That could turn this:
- I like strawberries, and berries, and cherries, and raspberries.
Into this:
- I like strawberries, berries, cherries, etc.
Or this:
- My mom and dad aren’t happy, and I need to talk to you about it.
Into this:
- My mom and dad aren’t happy. I need to talk to you about it.
You may also like:
8 Better Words To Use Instead Of “And/Or”
10 Best Words to Use Instead of “And” to Start a Sentence
Martin holds a Master’s degree in Finance and International Business. He has six years of experience in professional communication with clients, executives, and colleagues. Furthermore, he has teaching experience from Aarhus University. Martin has been featured as an expert in communication and teaching on Forbes and Shopify. Read more about Martin here.
In English writing, we try to not use the same word twice in a sentence. Do most other languages do the same?
«Unlike all other ducks, this duck was green.»
Although there is nothing grammatically wrong with this sentence, reusing the word «duck» is considered poor practice. Instead it would be rewritten to something like this:
«Unlike all the others, this duck was green.»
It makes the sentence slightly more readable.
Do other languages have a similar rule, or is this mostly an English language thing?
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