BAD GRAMMAR IN GOOD SONGS
Are you a certified Belieber or a fan of
Bruno Mars? How about a Lady Gaga fanatic? Well, if that’s so, then I’m sure
you do memorize their hits. Let’s check some of their songs with these lines:
“Grenade” by Bruno Mars
Easy
come, easy go
That's just how you live, oh
Take, take, take it all
But you never give
Should've known you was trouble
From the first kiss
Had your eyes wide open
Why were they open?
That's just how you live, oh
Take, take, take it all
But you never give
Should've known you was trouble
From the first kiss
Had your eyes wide open
Why were they open?
“Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga
I
want your love, and I want your revenge
You
and me could write a bad romance
I
want your love, and all your love is revenge
You
and me could write a bad romance
“Boyfriend” by Justin Bieber
If
I was your boyfriend, I'd never let
you go
I
can take you places you ain't never
been before
Baby
take a chance or you'll never ever ever know
I
got money in my hands that I'd really like to blow
Most of the songs
today contain incorrect grammar on their lyrics. Though most of the time,
songwriters omit some words, listeners still manage to understand what does the
song mean, but the point is, even a simple subject-verb agreement is not being
followed, which is considered as a fatal error in the English language. Listed below
are the corrections for the given examples:
·
From the first example, “You was trouble” should be “You were trouble” because “you” takes a
plural verb.
·
The next stanza has a line, “You and me caught
in a bad romance.” In this line, you will notice the incorrect usage of “me”
and the lack of helping verb. Therefore, the correct line should be “You and I were
caught in a bad romance.”
·
However, the last stanza contains two flaws- the
first line and the second. The first line should be “If I were your boyfriend, I'd never let you go” because the guy supposes
something, which is untrue. The second should be “I can take you places you’ve never been before,” and it is simply
because of the use of double negative, ain’t and never.
With what has
discussed, for sure, we are now certain and aware on what will this lead to. Most
of us tend to memorize the lyrics of songs and adopt these incorrect grammar
and usage since these songs are considered hits. In this observation, we
noticed that songwriters commit grammar lapses because those lapses sound good
and correct especially if it’s an upbeat song. They also tend to just base it
to the rhythm and melody. Despite of this fact, we should always be careful and
mindful in using the language appropriately.
LYRICS FROM:
"Well, if that’s so, then I’m sure you do memorize their hits."
ReplyDelete--If that is the case, I'm sure you know all the words of their hit songs.
"Though most of the time, songwriters omit some words, listeners still manage to understand what does the song mean, but the point is, even a simple subject-verb agreement is not being followed, which is considered as a fatal error in the English language."
--You could have divided this long sentence into shorter ones to avoid confusion.
Good choice of topic! I'm a big fan of music and I often notice these errors musicians commit just for the sake of sounding good. Actually, songs with poor grammar don't sound good at all. Is it their way of telling their listeners that they are cool? Ungrammatical lyrics are not cool.
Hello Ariane! I love listening to music and I always laugh whenever I notice these grammar errors. Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteHi, Ariane! I agree with Camille.
ReplyDelete"Though most of the time, songwriters omit some words, listeners still manage to understand what does the song mean, but the point is, even a simple subject-verb agreement is not being followed, which is considered as a fatal error in the English language."
- You can break up this sentence into two or more sentences to avoid confusion to the readers.
Good job, girl! >:D<
"Well, if that’s so, then I’m sure you do memorize their hits." You should avoid contractions in formal writing :)
ReplyDelete"Though most of the time, songwriters omit some words,...." You could have used "usually" instead of "most of the time" in this sentence :)
"....lapses sound good and correct." I think this part of your sentence is wordy. You could have omitted "correct".
Hi Ariane :-) Your topic is interesting, good job! :-)
"Well, if that’s so, then I’m sure you do memorize their hits." You should avoid contractions in formal writing :)
ReplyDelete"Though most of the time, songwriters omit some words,...." You could have used "usually" instead of "most of the time" in this sentence :)
"....lapses sound good and correct." I think this part of your sentence is wordy. You could have omitted "correct".
Hi Ariane :-) Your topic is interesting, good job! :-)
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ReplyDeleteI appreciate that you noticed the mistakes in those lyrics. I agree with Joie that the musicians who intentionally commit these mistakes do not help our generation to master the English language. Moreover, they use these mistakes as a license to be "cool" that is not proper since they are the models of many teens in our generation..
ReplyDeleteAside from the mistakes mentioned above I congratulate you for coming up with this interesting post. Great job! :D
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ReplyDeleteHi, Ariane! I like your topic!I also commend you for citing examples and correcting them to prove your point. The writers of these songs take poetic license as an excuse for these errors. I also noticed that the errors they commit are the common errors of their audience. Therefore, they should be more careful because they could possibly be the reasons for these errors.
ReplyDeleteAside from the errors Joie had mentioned, I noticed multiple errors in this sentence:
"With what has discussed, for sure, we are now certain and aware on what will this lead to. "
-The phrase "for sure" makes this sentence wordy. You could omit this phrase since you have the word "certain" in your sentence.
-"With what has discussed.." should be "With what was discussed.."
-"..on what will this lead to." should be "..on what this will lead to." to make it parallel.
- The pronoun "this" does not have any antecedent it can refer to,thus making the sentence confusing.
Aside from the errors mentioned above, I think you did a good job with this post. Congratulations, Ariane! :)
I commend you for spotting and correcting the errors in the famous songs that you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteAside from the errors mentioned above I was troubled by your upper-cased title because I think it breaks the formality of your post I suggest you alter the title into this format "Bad Grammar in Good Songs".
Great job for this post! :)
Nice choice of topic though there are some minor errors on your post. Anyway, good job!
ReplyDeleteI like your topic and the way you presented your ideas. I just noticed that some of your sentences are long, and this can confuse your readers. To avoid such confusion, consider your diction. Try to use shorter and precise words to express your thoughts. Other than that, I commend you for a well-written post. :)
ReplyDeleteNice topic, Ariane! Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteThis is a contemporary topic that a lot of people can relate to. I like how you noticed those lyrics. =)) Congratulations. God bless you!
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting post, Ariane! Good job!
ReplyDeleteI used to put a few lyrics of my favorite songs on Facebook without noticing that some lines are grammatically wrong.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting topic. Congratulations Ariane! :)
Music is also a medium in learning English. Lyricists should apply the rules in grammar, so people would not get confused.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic, especially nowadays that a lot of songs are written in bad grammar. Great job, Ariane! :)
"They also tend to just base it to the rhythm and melody."
- This sentence is an example of split infinitive. You could have deleted "just" between "to" and "base".
Aside from the errors mentioned, this topic is interesting and very relevant at present.
ReplyDeleteGood job Ariane! As a famous and excellent singer, I always notice these errors. Nevertheless, I do not mind about them, for I badly care about the tune.
Hello, Ariane! I think Joie has already corrected most of the errors on your post. :)
ReplyDeleteYou're right, lyricists usually write lyrics that don't follow simple rules in grammar so the lyrics follows the beat. They don't think of the effect and influence of their lyrics to its audience, especially to the youth who idolize the artists who actually sing grammatically incorrect lyrics. I commend you for your choice of topic. Congratulations! :)
I also noticed the long sentences, just make them shorter.
ReplyDeleteI like the simplicity of your post. This is a good topic, Ariane. :)
Since I'm a professional bathroom performer, I also noticed songs with grammar errors like those you have mentioned. They're too common.
ReplyDeleteAside from the corrections stated above, this is an interesting post! Congrats, Ariane! :-)
When i was younger, I asked my mom once about why some songs had faulty grammar then she told me the same thing as to what Angel told in the comments above. I like your topic. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI am loving this blog post! MUSIC! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! I have noticed that some songs have faulty grammar, but I always thought that the singers had some kind of poetic license or something, so I didn't really mind. GREAT JOB ON THIS BLOG POST! :D
ReplyDeleteHi Arianne!
ReplyDelete"How about a Lady Gaga fanatic?"
It's not a complete sentence. You should have combined it with the first sentence.
"...which is considered as a fatal error..."
Omit as
"...we are now certain and aware on what will this lead to."
You should have written it this way, "...we are now certain and aware on what this might lead to."
Great job!