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Kirsten: "Jason’s and mine relationship"

"Even though it was hard for him to talk to her and they had an awkward relationship, I think by the end they were brother and sister and had such a love for each other. I think they became more like best friends, and that’s what Jason’s and mine relationship is." - Kirsten Dunst, comparing her relationship with Jason Schwartzman to that of Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI

Kirsten has used a possessive personal pronoun in place of a possessive adjective.

In the noun phrase "Jason’s and mine relationship," the possessive pronoun "mine" is used to modify the noun "relationship." This is incorrect because only an adjective can modify a noun. To correct the error, replace the possessive pronoun with a possessive adjective.

"I think they became more like best friends, and that’s what Jason’s and my relationship is."

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Ellen: "I definitely cook pasta the best"

"I definitely cook pasta the best, but I've learned to walk away and let him get on with it. It's a metaphor for our relationship." - Ellen Pompeo, in Eve, about her boyfriend Christopher Ivery and their competition in the kitchen

Ellen has used a superlative adverb in place of a comparative adverb. While her choice of words is common in colloquial speech, it is noteworthy because this type of diction often appears on standardized examinations and you will be expected to identify it as an error.

In the clause "I definitely cook pasta the best," Ellen's use of the superlative adverb "best" is incorrect because she is comparing her cooking skills with those of only one person. Since only two sets of skills are being compared, a comparative adverb should be used.

"I definitely cook pasta better, but I've learned to walk away and let him get on with it.

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Sienna: "the city and it's inhabitants"

"I want to apologise for my comments which seem to have been misconstrued and taken out of context. I was referring to the fact that we are shooting almost all night shoots on this film and none of us have had an opportunity to fully explore the city. What I have seen of it is beautiful. I came once before to visit the Andy Warhol museum whilst researching a film and found both the city and it's inhabitants warm and gracious." - Sienna Miller, in a written statement issued by her publicist, on the disparaging comments she made about Pittsburgh in Rolling Stone

This written statement contains an error an error in diction, a capitalization error, and a punctuation error.

The phrase "the city and it's inhabitants" contains a common error in diction. The word "it's" is a contraction of "it is"; therefore, the meaning of this phrase is "the city and it is inhabitants." This does not make sense. To correct the error, replace "it's" with "its," which means "belonging to it."

Proper names should be capitalized. The name of the museum referred to in Sienna's statement is "The Andy Warhol Museum." When you are writing about an institution, company, or other organization, look for its full name and capitalize it accordingly. The Legal Information page on the museum's website contains the following sentence: "The contents of this site may not be reproduced in any form without the permission of The Andy Warhol Museum."

In the first sentence, the dependent clause "which seem to have been misconstrued and taken out of context" should be preceded by a comma.

This version of the statement issued by Sienna's publicist corrects the errors:

"I want to apologise for my comments, which seem to have been misconstrued and taken out of context. I was referring to the fact that we are shooting almost all night shoots on this film and none of us has had an opportunity to fully explore the city. What I have seen of it is beautiful. I came once before to visit The Andy Warhol Museum whilst researching a film and found both the city and its inhabitants warm and gracious."

Note: The spelling of "apologise" and the use of "whilst" to mean "while" reflect the fact that Sienna is British.

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Orlando: "this physical form you're in is mine"

"I was fearless up until I broke my back, and it's not like that disappears, but you just suddenly realize that this physical form you're in is mine and I'm going to live with it until I die, and I want it to work as well as it can." - Orlando Bloom, in British OK

Orlando has made a shift in pronoun person.

Second person pronouns are commonly used to make generalizations. In many cases, a shift between the second person and the first person can make sense because it represents the application of a generalized idea to a personal situation or belief.

Orlando has made an awkward shift in pronoun person. He switches person in the middle of an idea, and while it is easy to understand what he is saying, the literal meaning of his statement is unusual.

Orlando begins his statement by relating a personal experience in the first person: "I was fearless"; "I broke my back." He then switches to the second person to make a generalization: "you just suddenly realize"; "this physical form you're in." He switches back to the first person in the middle of the clause: "this physical form you're in is mine." The literal interpretation of this clause is that the physical forms that other people are in belong to Orlando. This does not make sense.

One way to create a logical meaning in Orlando's statement is to remove the generalization by avoiding the use of the second person:

"I was fearless up until I broke my back, and it's not like that disappears, but I just suddenly realized that this physical form I'm in is mine and I'm going to live with it until I die, and I want it to work as well as it can."

Another way to avoid the awkward interpretation of Orlando's statement is to continue the generalization and change the instances of the person at the end of the statement to the second person:

"I was fearless up until I broke my back, and it's not like that disappears, but you just suddenly realize that this physical form you're in is yours and you're going to live with it until you die, and I want mine to work as well as it can."

These shifts in pronoun person are logical.

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Forest: "I didn't really meet hardly anyone"

"I was trying to submerge myself in everything - the culture, the food, the coffee shops, everything - and the people were really helpful to me. They really were supportive of the movie. I didn't really meet hardly anyone who wasn't supportive of the film." - Forest Whitaker, on the people of Uganda's reaction to the production of The Last King of Scotland

Forest has used a double negative in the last sentence of his statement. While this type of construction is common in colloquial speech, it often appears in questions on standardized examinations with the expectation that it will be recognized as an error.

The phrase "didn't really meet hardly anyone" contains a negative (the contracted form of "not") that negates the verb "did meet." The adverb "really" expresses the degree of significance of the action.

The adverb "hardly" means "barely; not to a significant degree." In modifying "meet," "hardly" negates the verb and expresses the degree of significance of the action.

Both the "really/not" construction and the adverb "hardly" are negatives that intensify the degree of significance of the action. The presence of both in the same sentence creates a double negative.

These two versions of Forest's statement avoid the double negative:

"I didn't really meet anyone who wasn't supportive of the film."

"I hardly met anyone who wasn't supportive of the film."

Filed in - diction -, Forest Whitaker | Comments (0)
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