“Through all the chaos and torment and everything I go through, I can lay in his arms and finally rest.” - Jessica Simpson, about boyfriend Tony Romo
Jessica has made a common error in diction: she has used the transitive verb “lay” instead of the intransitive verb “lie.”
Transitive verbs have direct objects. The transitive verb “lay” [...]
“The writers needed a big finale, and they didn’t know what to do with Marissa anymore; she’d been through pretty much everything. I mean, I worked tediously for those three years and my character did a lot.” - Mischa Barton, in Teen Vogue, on her departure from The O.C.
Mischa has not made an error, but [...]
“I have, like, huge enclosed cages all around in the backyard everywhere, so everyone has, like, their own space.” - Paris Hilton, describing her collection of animals
This quote contains a redundancy, an error in pronoun/antecedent agreement, and two instances of superfluous colloquialisms.
Paris describes the location of her cages as “all around” and “everywhere.” These terms [...]
“There’s only two people in the world you should lie to: the police and your girlfriend.” - Jack Nicholson in In Touch Weekly
This sentence contains an error in subject/verb agreement and an error in diction.
The subject in this sentence is “two people,” which is plural. The verb (the contraction form of “is”) is singular. Change [...]
“It was a liquid diet where you lose weight really fast. I would not recommend it if someone wasn’t doing a movie because there are other ways to lose weight.” - Beyonce Knowles, on how she lost 20 pounds for her role in the movie Dreamgirls
Beyonce has made two common errors, one involving the use [...]
“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 [...]
“I remember lying in bed, thinking I wanted to die on the spot. I would say, ‘Please don’t let me wake up. I can’t face another day.’” - Alec Baldwin, about how he felt about living with his ex-wife Kim Basinger
Alec has avoided a very common error in diction. The verbs “lay” and “lie” are [...]
“It is obvious to me that there is an overwhelming amount of women, of actors I look at, and they’re too thin for my taste.” - Scarlett Johansson, on the pressure in Hollywood for women to stay exceedingly slim
Scarlett has made an error in diction. She has used “amount” in place of “number.”
The word “amount” [...]
“No matter what anybody says about my being a father, they have no idea how I am with my kids. That’s my number one priority - my children.” - Kevin Federline in Life and Style
Kevin has followed the grammatical rule that requires a possessive pronoun or the possessive form of a noun to precede a [...]
“I’ve always mixed with people older than me. I’m often told I appeal to older men more than guys my own age, and I think that’s pretty cool. Older men understand women more. They usually have better taste.” - Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett has made an error that is very common in informal speech and writing: she [...]
