word-count.sh

#!/bin/sh
# this works for Bash and Zsh shell
a=("it is true for all that that that that that that that refers to is not the same that that that that refers to")

# Use this with Fish shell
# set a "it is true for all that that that that that that that refers to is not the same that that that that refers to"

# or if you need to count words in a sample file,
# cat <file> | tr " " "\n" | sort -n | uniq -c

echo "$a" | tr " " "\n" | sort -n | uniq -c