The book illustrates the dispute with a historical formula concerning a wife whose marriage has not been consummated. The question is whether the legal relationship remains in place after the first utterance so that the later utterances can take effect.
«أنت طالق، ثم طالق، ثم طالق»
You are divorced, then divorced, then divorced.
Under the application attributed to Abu Hanifa, the first utterance takes effect while later utterances do not produce the same additional effects, because thumma separates both the speech and the legal sequence. Merely counting repeated words misses the interpretive question.
Actual marriage and divorce cases require qualified legal assessment. The educational point here is the juristic effect of thumma in a specific formula.