grammar - Can you use "same" without "the"?


I've been racking my brain trying to think of a grammatically correct sentence that uses same without the earlier in the same (see!) phrase.



It is the same


It is the very same


I have 10 things all the same


I have 10 of the same things


The same boy as last time did it again


The boy did the same thing as last time



I am discounting same-day dry cleaning and any similar phrases that might crop up because using a hyphen is acceptable which suggests it's an atomic phrase and it sounds awkward if inverted:



They have a same-day dry cleaning service.


Their dry cleaning service is same-day. - Sounds odd but might be acceptable in some situations


Their dry cleaning service is done on the same day. - Sounds better



So I don't think it's possible when same is used by itself. Can someone either explain why same must always have the before it or provide a grammatically correct counter-example?



Answer



The word same is usually used with the definite article. However, it can be used with any central determiner which marks the noun phrase as definite:



  • these same ideas

  • those very same people

  • my same friend

  • whose same idea

  • Ben's same problems


There are also some stock phrases which don't use the definite article. For example the two word reply:



  • Same difference.


There are also a few examples of same being used with an indefinite article in published books. Here's a quote from a philosophy book:



  • Striking as well is that a same idea is several times repeated, but each time the wording shows up to be somewhat different.


We can even find examples of same with the negative determiner no:



  • The chairman and vice-chairman would serve a term of 1 year, with no renewal of term for the chairman (either as chairman or vice-chairman) and the further stipulation that no same person may serve as the vice-chairman for a consecutive period of more than two years.


Notice that using "same" with these determiners and the definite article leads to ungrammatical results:



  • the these same ideas

  • those the very same people

  • my the same friend

  • the whose same idea

  • Ben's the same problems

  • a the same idea

  • the no same person


This is because English does not allow two so-called central determiners for the same noun.


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