Return an object along with a 409 Conflict error in a Web API 2 POST call backed by Entity Framework?

EDIT: This solution is for WebApi prior v5, please see this answer if you are using v5 or above.

You could return a NegotiatedContentResult<T> that lets you specify the status code and an object to be put into the http message body.

Change your code to something like this:

public IHttpActionResult PostCanonical(Canonical canonical)
{
    if (!ModelState.IsValid)
    {
        return BadRequest(ModelState);
    }

    // Check for duplicate Canonical text for the same app name.
    if (db.IsDuplicateCanonical(canonical.AppName, canonical.Text))
    {
        // It's a duplicate.  Return an HTTP 409 Conflict error to let the client know.
        var original = db.CanonicalSentences.First(c => c.ID == canonical.ID);
        return new NegotiatedContentResult<T>(HttpStatusCode.Conflict, original, this);
    }

    db.CanonicalSentences.Add(canonical);
    db.SaveChanges();

    return CreatedAtRoute("DefaultApi", new { id = canonical.ID }, canonical);
}

Or maybe wrap it an extension method like this:

public static class HttpActionResultExtensions {
    public static IHttpActionResult StatusCodeWithContent<T>(this ApiController @this, HttpStatusCode statusCode, T content) {
        return new NegotiatedContentResult<T>(statusCode, content, @this);
    }
}

And then use the extension like this:

public IHttpActionResult PostCanonical(Canonical canonical)
{
    if (!ModelState.IsValid)
    {
        return BadRequest(ModelState);
    }

    // Check for duplicate Canonical text for the same app name.
    if (db.IsDuplicateCanonical(canonical.AppName, canonical.Text))
    {
        // It's a duplicate.  Return an HTTP 409 Conflict error to let the client know.
        var original = db.CanonicalSentences.First(c => c.ID == canonical.ID);
        return StatusCodeWithContent(HttpStatusCode.Conflict, original)
    }

    db.CanonicalSentences.Add(canonical);
    db.SaveChanges();

    return CreatedAtRoute("DefaultApi", new { id = canonical.ID }, canonical);
}