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I actually don't enjoy "brain teasers" much, but I do like playing with language, so this amuses me.
Think of an equivalent grammatically acceptable English sentence to the one below, the equivalent containing five words only, all the same word:
"Small fish that had previously had their odor detected, detected the odor of other small fish that had previously had their odor detected."
A smelt smelt a smelt.
All five words have to be the same.
Smelt, smelt smelt, smelt smelt.
Yep, that's it, but no commas...
Seems strange that "Smelt smelt smelt smelt smelt" can be a proper sentence, but it is.
I think the commas work OK - their use meets the requirements and in this case breaks up the repetition.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handou...r/g_comma.html
It isn't whether the commas work, the specification was five words only.
'grammatically acceptable English sentence';
If the commas have to go, so does the period, and then that breaks the 'English sentence' component. Rules are such taudry things!
:)