Scarlett Johansson   Jennifer Aniston   Brad Pitt   Angelina Jolie   Orlando Bloom   Paris Hilton   Eva Longoria   Tom Cruise   Katie Holmes   Gwen Stefani   lindsay Lohan   Adam Brody   Britney Spears   Halle Berry   Nick Lachey   Madonna   Beyonce Knowles

Kirsten: "I felt differently"; Jason: "you have to act different"

Kirsten Dunst and Jason Schwartzman comment on the costumes of Marie Antoinette:

Kirsten: "Milena [Canonero] built my character through my clothing and I felt differently in every dress that I wore."

Jason: "The vests hug you in strange places, and they’re very tight in the back and just you have to act different."

Both Kirsten and Jason have made an error in modifier confusion. Kirsten has used an adverb as a predicate adjective, and Jason has used an adjective in place of an adverb. Jason has also used awkward syntax.

In the clause "I felt differently in every dress," the verb "felt" is a linking verb. The adverb "differently" functions as the predicate adjective, which is incorrect because only an adjective or a noun can be "linked" to a subject by a linking verb. The use of an adverb with the verb "felt" changes the verb to an action verb, and the literal meaning of Kirsten's statement is that she touched things in a different manner when she wore the dresses. To correct the error, replace the adverb with an adjective.

In the clause "you have to act different," the adjective "different" modifies the verb phrase "have to act"; this is incorrect because only an adverb can modify a verb. To correct the error, replace the adjective with an adverb.

Jason's use of "just" in this statement is awkward. His sentence would be more eloquent if this word were to be placed after "you."

These versions of the statements swap Kirsten's adverb and Jason's adjective:

Kirsten: "Milena [Canonero] built my character through my clothing and I felt different in every dress that I wore."

Jason: "The vests hug you in strange places, and they’re very tight in the back and you just have to act differently."

Jason's statement no longer has awkward syntax.

Filed in - modifier confusion -, Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman | Comments (0)

Tina tries to get it right - and she does!

"When I wrote Mean Girls, I went into it knowing, 'Okay, I don't know anything about story; I really have to try to learn.' I did what everyone does: I read books." - Tina Fey

Tina has avoided the use of a phrase commonly used in colloquial speech and writing that should be avoided in more formal contexts. Standardized test questions may contain the phrase "try and," and you will be expected to recognize this as an error that should be corrected by replacing "and" with "to."

Tina chose not to say, "I really have to try and learn," which is considered to be incorrect according to the rules of standard American English. Instead, she said, "I really have to try to learn," which is correct.

Very nice, Tina!

Filed in - diction -, Tina Fey | Comments (0)

Mel: "me taking responsibility" and "to sort of put anything off of me"

"We're talking about me right now, and me taking responsibility for my words and actions, and I'm certainly not going to use him to sort of put anything off of me. It isn't the explanation for what happened that night. It isn't. It has nothing to do with it. That's in my own heart." - Mel Gibson, in response to Diane Sawyer's question about his father's anti-Semitic views during an interview on Good Morning America

Mel's statement contains two pronoun errors and two phrases that should be treated as errors if encountered in standardized examination questions.

The phrase "me taking responsibility" contains the gerund "taking." Since a gerund is a noun, the pronoun that precedes it should be in the possessive case.

The phrase "sort of" is very common in everyday speech, and Mel's use of this colloquialism is perfectly acceptable in this informal context. However, this phrase (and the similar phrase "kind of") may appear in standardized examination questions and you will be expected to identify it as an error in diction. It can be challenging to replace this phrase with a more formal word or phrase that conveys the same meaning; in Mel's statement, "sort of" can be interpreted to mean "somewhat" or "somehow." Also note that the phrase "sort of" splits the infinitive "to put"; when modifying the sentence to avoid the phrase "sort of," put the replacement elsewhere in the sentence so that the infinitive is not split.

The phrase "off of" is also common in everyday speech, but it is another construction that the writers of standardized examinations consider to be an error.

Mel's use of "of me" at the end of his first sentence is incorrect because the subject and the object of the preposition refer to the same person. In such instances, a reflexive pronoun should be used.

This version of Mel's quote corrects the pronoun errors and avoids the use of "sort of" and "off of":

"We're talking about me right now, and my taking responsibility for my words and actions, and I'm certainly not going to use him to put anything off myself somehow."

Filed in - pronouns -, - diction -, - gerunds -, Mel Gibson | Comments (0)

Hugh: "anyone I know on this planet"

"She has more fun than anyone I know on this planet. She's pure passion, that girl." - Hugh Jackman, in People, about his wife Deborra-Lee Furness

Hugh has made a type of faulty comparison that is commonly found in questions on standardized examinations. The comparison in the first sentence is between "she" (his wife) and "anyone I know on this planet." The literal interpretation of Hugh's statement is that his wife does not live on this planet because comparing her to a group of people excludes her from the group.

To make a logical comparison, insert "else" into Hugh's sentence:

"She has more fun than anyone else I know on this planet."

This syntax creates a comparison between Hugh's wife and anyone else in the group of people on this planet.

This type of faulty comparison, which excludes a person or thing from a group, is also associated with the word "other." Read a discussion of the difference between "any" and "any other" in comparisons.

Filed in - diction -, Hugh Jackman | Comments (0)

Courtney: "that girl that lives with no regrets"

"I always thought I'd be that girl that lives with no regrets. I have regrets." - Courtney Love

Courtney has used an incorrect relative pronoun. In the noun phrase "girl that lives with no regrets," the relative pronoun "that" refers to "girl." This is incorrect because "that" should be used to refer only to animals and things. The relative pronoun "who" should be used to refer to a person.

This version of Courtney's statement corrects the pronoun error:

"I always thought I'd be that girl who lives with no regrets."


Read more at the Celebrity English main site.

Filed in - pronouns -, - pronouns: who/whom -, Courtney Love | Comments (3)
« Older posts
Scarlett Johansson   Jennifer Aniston   Brad Pitt   Angelina Jolie   Orlando Bloom   Paris Hilton   Eva Longoria   Tom Cruise   Katie Holmes   Gwen Stefani   lindsay Lohan   Adam Brody   Britney Spears   Halle Berry   Nick Lachey   Madonna   Beyonce Knowles