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Quiz about I Got Rhythm I Got Terrible Grammar

I Got Rhythm. I Got Terrible Grammar Quiz

Most of the time, an artist's decision to fudge around with the English language is for style and creative purposes, but let's help them clean up these lyrics anyway. All lyrics come from metrolyrics.com

A multiple-choice quiz by Joepetz. Estimated time: 6 mins.

Author
Joepetz

Time
6 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
367,467

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
446

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. If Eric Clapton wanted to be grammatically correct, how would he change the title of his song "Lay Down Sally?" Hint

Laid Down Sally

correct as is

Lie Down Sally

Lain Down Sally

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. "If I was a rich girl, na na, na na, na na, na na, na na, na na, na na, See, I'd have all the money in the world, if I was a rich girl."

These lyrics from Gwen Stefani's "Rich Girl" are not correct. The lyrics should be "If I were a rich girl" because these lines are written in what tense? Hint

present progressive

simple present

subjunctive

simple past

NEXT>

Question 3 of 10

3. The Rolling Stones are not known for their proper use of the English language, but even they should know that their song title "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" contains what common grammatical error? Hint

double negative

wrong subject-verb agreement

dangling modifier

incorrect syntax

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. The lyrics "Who you gonna call" from the movie "Ghostbusters" should read "Who are you going to call?"

True

False

NEXT>

Question 5 of 10

5. Correct these lyrics from Billy Joel's "Pressure."

"But you will come to a place, where the only thing you feel are loaded guns in your face." Hint

"But you will come to a place, where the only things you feel are loaded guns in your face."

correct as is

"But you will come to a place, where the only things you feel is loaded guns in your face."

"But you will come to a place, where the only thing you feel is loaded guns in your face."

NEXT>

Question 6 of 10

6. What, if anything, is incorrect about the title "The One That Got Away" by Katy Perry? Hint

nothing is wrong with it

instead of "away," it should say "a way"

"got" is improper English

people are not thats

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. Which of the following lines from Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A." is grammatically incorrect? Ignore the fact that each of these sentences begins with a conjunction. Hint

"And defend her still today"

"And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me"

"And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free"

"And I gladly stand up next to you"

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. Nancy Sinatra walked all over the English language in "These Boots Are Made for Walking." One of the errors she made was singing "I'm going to buy me a box of matches." What should she have said? Hint

"I'm going to buy myself a box of matches"

"I'm gonna buy me a match"

"I'm going to buy me boxes of matches"

"I'm going to buy me the box of matches"

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. There is absolutely nothing grammatically wrong with these lines from Carly Simon's "You're So Vain."

"You're so vain. I bet you think this song is about you, don't you?"

True

False

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Question 10 of 10

10. At least Bruno Mars admits he is lazy in "The Lazy Song," but that is still no excuse for bad grammar. Which of these lines is written in correct grammatical style, proper English and makes syntactical sense? Hint

"No, I ain't going to comb my hair"

"I just wanna lay in my bed"

"Today I swear I am not doing anything"

"I'll be lounging on the couch just chilling in my snuggie"

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. If Eric Clapton wanted to be grammatically correct, how would he change the title of his song "Lay Down Sally?"

Answer: Lie Down Sally

The word "lay" means to put or place something. "Lie" means to be horizontal in position. Since the singer is telling Sally to rest, the correct word is "lie." "Lain" is the past participle of "lie." "Laid" is the past tense of "lay."

Definitions are from dictionary.com

2. "If I was a rich girl, na na, na na, na na, na na, na na, na na, na na, See, I'd have all the money in the world, if I was a rich girl." These lyrics from Gwen Stefani's "Rich Girl" are not correct. The lyrics should be "If I were a rich girl" because these lines are written in what tense?

Answer: subjunctive

The subjunctive mood is used when expressing things like doubt and hypothetical situations. Since the singer is making a hypothetical statement about what would happen if she was a rich girl, she would have to use the subjunctive to be correct.

Answer: double negative

A double negative makes a positive. Apparently, this means the Rolling Stones can get satisfaction.

4. The lyrics "Who you gonna call" from the movie "Ghostbusters" should read "Who are you going to call?"

Answer: False

It should read "Whom are you going to call?" The subject of the sentence is "you"; the verb phrase is " are going to call." That means what remains is the direct object. "Who" is not an object pronoun, only "whom" is.

5. Correct these lyrics from Billy Joel's "Pressure." "But you will come to a place, where the only thing you feel are loaded guns in your face."

Answer: "But you will come to a place, where the only thing you feel is loaded guns in your face."

The word "thing" is a singular noun and requires a singular verb. It is incorrect to change "thing" to "things" because "loaded guns in your face" is described as one cumulative feeling, not multiple feelings. Just because "guns" is plural, does not mean it should be "things" because it is the feeling of the guns that "thing" refers to, not the guns themselves.

6. What, if anything, is incorrect about the title "The One That Got Away" by Katy Perry?

Answer: people are not thats

The "one" refers to a lover that got away from the singer. Since, lovers are people, the correct pronoun should be who. "That" refers to objects.

7. Which of the following lines from Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A." is grammatically incorrect? Ignore the fact that each of these sentences begins with a conjunction.

Answer: "And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free"

The problem in this line is the pronoun "where," which only refers to places. Since "American" is person, not a place, the correct way to say it is "And I'm proud to be in America, where at least I know I'm free."

It doesn't sound as catchy as the original though.

8. Nancy Sinatra walked all over the English language in "These Boots Are Made for Walking." One of the errors she made was singing "I'm going to buy me a box of matches." What should she have said?

Answer: "I'm going to buy myself a box of matches"

The action is reflexive, so it is necessary to use the reflexive pronoun, myself. The incorrect answers slightly change the meaning of the lyrics.

9. There is absolutely nothing grammatically wrong with these lines from Carly Simon's "You're So Vain." "You're so vain. I bet you think this song is about you, don't you?"

Answer: True

"I bet you think this song is about you, don't you," is a proper use of a tag question. A tag question is when a short, dependent question is added to the end of a declarative statement to form a question.

Answer: "Today I swear I am not doing anything"

"I just wanna lay in my bed" should read "I just want to lie in my bed." I hope you remembered that from Question 1. "I'll be lounging on the couch just chilling in my snuggie" contains a misplaced modifier. Technically, the sentence says that the couch is what is wearing the snuggie, not the singer.

A correct way to say this is "I'll be chilling in my snuggie while I lounge on the couch." Ain't is not a word and it should be "am not."

Source: Author Joepetz

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