The problem with such sentences is that the verb also act as a subjective noun. Hence, it sounds redundant when read. They are generally considered a stylistic flaw by many linguists and grammarians.
For example:
"I smell the smell."
The verb and the subjective noun are identical. Hence, it leaves itself to confusion and opacity. It is better to avoid these types of structures as it is better to not split infinitives, use expletive beginnings and conditional conjunctions.
Every language has its idiosyncratic obscurities. English seems to be more logical in its speech (probably due to its Latin roots) than most other languages to me - which makes learning the language seemigly easier than others.
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I flame, therefore I am.
Last edited by playa_playa : 04-29-2002 at 07:30 PM.
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