This mini episode teaches you the useful “X and X” construction. (It's simpler than it looks.)
Episode 171 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you the useful “X and X” construction. What does this construction mean, and how do we use it? Send your questions about English and your suggestions for future episodes to EverybodyESL@gmail.com! (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
The construction that I want to teach you about today is a construction that I call the "X and X" construction. I know that might be a complicated or strange-sounding name for this grammatical construction. But I think you will understand what I'm talking about after I explain it.
The "X and X" construction is a construction where we use some word and then the word and, and then that first word is repeated: X and X. We use this construction in several different ways. And I think maybe the most common way that we use this "X and X" construction is with verbs. Let me give you an example, so you can see what I'm talking about.
Let's say some kids are watching a funny video. I could say, “While they watched the funny video, the kids laughed and laughed.” While they watched the funny video, the kids laughed and laughed.
There, you can see that "X and X" construction: They laughed and laughed. You see that two copies of that same word—laughed—are joined by and: they laughed and laughed. What does it mean? What does it mean to say that the kids laughed and laughed? Why did I repeat the word laughed?
What that means is the kids laughed a lot. Or the kids laughed for a long time. Or the kids laughed and then they laughed some more.
The "X and X" construction often has that kind of feeling—that feeling of something repeating, or something happening over a long period of time.
Another example of using a verb in the "X and X" construction would be a sentence like this: “While she was doing her math homework, she thought and thought about problem number 6.” When she was doing her math homework, she thought and thought about problem number 6.
Here, "thought and thought" doesn't mean that she did two different things, or she thought about one thing and then she thought about another thing. It means she thought a lot. It means she thought for a long time about her homework. "Thought and thought." It works the same way as "laughed and laughed."
We can also use other kinds of words in the "X and X" construction. For example, we can use some words that describe durations of time. So you can talk about somebody practicing the piano for hours and hours. For hours and hours. In other words, the person practiced the piano for many hours. They practiced the piano a lot over a period of hours.
Or you could say, “She has been studying Chinese for years and years.” In other words, she has been studying Chinese for many years.
And I want to tell you about one more common use of the "X and X" construction. And that is with the phrase more and more.
I can say a sentence like this: “He likes cooking more and more as he gets older.” He likes cooking more and more as he gets older. That's really just a way of emphasizing that he enjoys cooking more, even more, a lot more. He continues to enjoy cooking more as he gets older. More and more. That is another way that we use the "X and X" construction.
I think all of these types of the "X and X" construction are very common. And I think it's very important that you know how to use this construction and how to recognize and understand it