Gwen Stefani has created a line of dolls dressed in outfits like the ones her and her Harajuku Girls wore on her last tour.
This sentence contains a pronoun case error. The prepositional phrase "like the ones her and her Harajuku Girls wore" contains a compound subject ("her and her Harajuku Girls") and a verb ("wore"). To test the case of the pronouns, separate the two parts of the compound subject and pair each with the verb:
- her wore [This does not make sense.]
- her Harajuku Girls wore [This makes sense.]
The pronoun "her" can be in either of two cases: objective or possessive. In the clause "her wore," the pronoun "her" functions as a subject; this is incorrect. The feminine subjective personal pronoun is "she." In the clause "her Harajuku Girls wore," the pronoun "her" is possessive: the antecedent of the pronoun "her" is "Gwen Stefani" so "her" means "belonging to Gwen Stefani."
This version of the sentence corrects the error:
Gwen Stefani has created a line of dolls dressed in outfits like the ones she and her Harajuku Girls wore on her last tour.
Michael Douglas cannot figure out how to read his email messages so he has it sent to his secretary, and she faxes it to him.
This sentence contains an error in pronoun/antecedent agreement. The singular pronoun "it" refers to the plural antecedent "email messages." To correct the error, change the number of either the pronoun or the antecedent.
Michael Douglas cannot figure out how to read his email messages so he has them sent to his secretary, and she faxes them to him.
Michael Douglas cannot figure out how to read his email so he has it sent to his secretary, and she faxes it to him.
Two celebrities recently sustained injuries to their nails. Catherine Zeta-Jones had her toenail torn off when a crew member stepped on her foot. This incident is probably worse than Mariah Carey, who kept the organizers of an awards ceremony waiting for 90 minutes because she had broken a fingernail.
The third sentence contains a faulty comparison. The phrase "worse than" indicates the presence of a comparison, but the two items that are compared are an incident (Catherine's toenail being torn off) and a person (Mariah). This comparison is not logical. Incidents should be compared to incidents, and people should be compared to people.
Catherine Zeta-Jones had her toenail torn off when a crew member stepped on her foot. This incident is probably worse than Mariah Carey's experience: the singer kept the organizers of an awards ceremony waiting for 90 minutes because she had broken a fingernail.
This revision compares an incident with an experience; this is a logical comparison.
Catherine Zeta-Jones had her toenail torn off when a crew member stepped on her foot. She probably suffered more than Mariah Carey, who kept the organizers of an awards ceremony waiting for 90 minutes because she had broken a fingernail.
This revision compares Catherine to Mariah, which is logical as well.
Mick Jagger uses an oxygen mask during Rolling Stones concerts so he can get his breath back quicker before the second half of the show.
This sentence contains an error in modifier confusion. The adjective "quicker" modifies the verb "can get," but an adjective cannot modify a verb. Only an adverb can modify a verb.
To correct the error, replace the adjective with an adverb.
Mick Jagger uses an oxygen mask during Rolling Stones concerts so he can get his breath back more quickly before the second half of the show.
The adverb phrase "more quickly" correctly modifies the verb "can get."
Reese Witherspoon has criticized Jessica Simpson for acting as if being stupid were cute. Reese said that she would like to "throw daggers" at people who undermine the efforts that her grandmother, as well as other pioneering feminists, have made to promote a positive image of women.
The second sentence contains a common error in subject/verb agreement. In the adjective clause that includes "that her grandmother, as well as other pioneering feminists, have made," the subject "grandmother" is singular, but the verb "have made" is plural. The confusion arises from the presence of the intervening phrase "as well as other pioneering feminists," which would seem to create a plural subject. However, an intervening phrase is not part of the subject and should not affect the number of the verb. Intervening phrases should be ignored when determining the agreement between a subject and a verb. It is sometimes useful to draw a line through the intervening phrase so that it does not draw attention away from the actual subject of the sentence or clause.
Reese said that she would like to "throw daggers" at people who undermine the efforts that her grandmother, as well as other pioneering feminists, has made to promote a positive image of women.
Another way to correct the sentence is to change the original subject and the intervening phrase to a compound subject that would be plural and therefore would agree with the plural verb.
Reese said that she would like to "throw daggers" at people who undermine the efforts that her grandmother and other pioneering feminists have made to promote a positive image of women.
