Jesse was sent this link to a strange use of homonyms.
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
The only thing I don’t understand, is that in explaining it… they use extra words like “whom.” How come you can skip those words and still be grammatically correct? Anyone?
A more reasonable sentence using this construction would be like:
“People whom my father knows eat radishes.”
The relative clause here (“whom my father knows”) doesn’t actually need to be introduced by “whom”, and omitting it doesn’t change the meaning of the sentence. See:
“People my father knows eat radishes.”
If you omit “whom” you’ve used the “zero relative pronoun” to introduce your restrictive relative clause. It’s a fine construction, nothing incorrect about it.
It also makes far more sense than all those buffaloes.
Thanks Andrew! Excellent explanation!