Multiple は particles in a sentence


I came across the following sentence in a website:

> 人々は月はチーズの球だと考えました

This sentence seems to have two topic particles: 人々 is the topic of the main
sentence because "people thought something" (人々は...考えました). The と particle
marks what people thought, which was the sentence 月はチーズの球だ. This sentence has
a different topic and therefore another は. Is this analysis correct? Is this
sentence I've found grammatically correct?




You are correct in your analysis of the meaning of the sentence, that the sub-
clause "月はチーズの球だ" (where the subject is "月"), is nested inside the outer
clause (where the subject is "人々").

Multiple occurrences of "は" particles in the same sentence is an interesting
phenomenon, since it many times sounds perfectly natural. I believe it sounds
more natural when the particles are used differently. Compare: "私は", "では",
"ことは", "には" etc.

Nonetheless, overdoing it will make it more and more difficult to parse and
make sense of the sentence.

> Is this sentece I've found grammatically correct?

I think so. Although, I would be inclined to throw in a comma after the first
"は".

