colloquial, pronoun antecedent agreement
"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.
This entry continues with an analysis and description of errors in the quote.
Paris describes the location of her cages as "all around" and "everywhere." These terms have the same meaning, so the use of both is redundant. Furthermore, Paris has used an extra preposition in the phrase "all around in the backyard." The preposition "in" is not necessary.
The antecedent, the indefinite pronoun "everyone," is singular, but the referent pronoun "their" is plural. To correct this sentence, either change the referent pronoun's number to singular or use an antecedent that is plural (and change the number of the verb to plural as well).
The use of “like” in a superfluous manner in a sentence is a colloquialism. While it is acceptable in everyday conversation, it should never be used in formal speech or standard written English.
These versions of Paris' statement correct the errors:
"I have huge enclosed cages all around the backyard, so all the animals have their own space."
"I have huge enclosed cages all around the backyard, so each animal has its own space."
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