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i was watching a show yesterday and one of the lines was "So did anything we did matter?" or something of the sort.

as far as i remember from school(it has been a few years) you cant use "did" twice in the same sentence. so is the sentence above correct? i know stuff on tv isn't always grammatically correct but maybe there is a rule that i'm not aware of. if so someone please explain.

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    There is no such rule, and there's nothing (grammatically) wrong with that sentence.
    – TypeIA
    Commented Jan 23, 2020 at 16:04
  • It wouldn't look very good to repeat a word like that in formal written work, but it's fine in everyday conversation.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Jan 23, 2020 at 16:39
  • It's fine, but just sounds a bit off like 'do do' - "People don't do work on the weekend. Actually, some people do do work on the weekend"
    – Smock
    Commented Jan 23, 2020 at 16:50

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Assuming the phrase was

So, did anything we did matter?

anything we did is the subject of the phrase. Therefore, one did has no connection to the other.

Try to substitute anything we did with it or this, and the phrase will be

So, did it matter?

which I'm hoping makes sense to you.

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