It's pretty hard to give up.
If you remove a part of it, you will be left with a bit.
Even if you remove another part, the bit still remains.
Remove one more and it still remains.
John gave half of the apples he had plus one more to Jacob. He gave half of the remaining ones plus one more to James. Now, John was left with just one apple.
Can you find out how many did he have in the beginning?