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But, as time went on, it became increasingly obvious that many of the programs were not available, and the ones that were were written in a particularly obscure form of BASIC.
(Probability Theory: The Logic of Science by E. T. Jaynes)
What is the effect of the first were in that were were written in and what is the effect of the second were?
The first of the two consecutive weres is the verb in the relative clause headed by that; you are called upon to infer its complement, which is the same as the complement of the previous were. The second is the verb in the main clause
SUBJECT: Many of the programs
PREDICATE: were not available
↓
and →→→→→→→→→→→→
↓
SUBJECT: the ones that were [available]
PREDICATE: were written in a particularly obscure form of BASIC.
In this sentence:
But, as time went on, it became increasingly obvious that many of the programs were not available, and the ones that were [available] were written in a particularly obscure form of BASIC.
The author has chosen not to repeat the word available. If we put that word back in, and if we mark the subject and predicate, it might make more sense:
( the ones that were [available] )subj ( were written in a particularly obscure form of BASIC )pred
This clause is talking about the programs that were available. These programs were written in a particularly obscure form of BASIC.
Try reading the sentence with a comma after the first were like --> "were, were written". That should make the meaning more clear.
