Sunday, December 10, 2006

Dakota Fanning Needs to Brush up on Her Grammar


Dakota Fanning, age 12, gave Time magazine the following quote for this week's issue: "I would love to direct someday. I've learned a lot from watching directors I've worked with [sic], like Steven Spielberg and Gary Winick, whom I worked with [sic] on Charlotte's Web. I would love to have that relationship with another actor."

Oh, sweet Dakota, age 12. While I always appreciate the correct objective use of a relative pronoun, you used a terminal preposition in the first clause of that sentence, and misplaced another in the second. Your sentence, if you were really that smart, should read like this:

"I've learned a lot from watching directors with whom I've worked, like Steven Spielberg and Gary Winnick, with whom I worked on Charlotte's Web. Mommy, can I have my childhood back?"

Seriously, Dakota, if you want to be a director, you should really learn how to write an English sentence first. Don't they even bother to homeschool you? Sheesh.

Charlotte's Web opens next month, and Fanning's independent film, Hound Dog, will be screened at Sundance in January.

Anonymous said...

Terminal prepositions is not a true grammatical error. The idea was originally derived from Latin lessons, which should make the rule's use in English immediatley preposterous. Most credible grammar books will say that ending a clause with a preposition is not necessarily incorrect. Besides, look at your "revision" of Fanning's statement... the syntax is frightfully awkward. And quit picking on 12-year-old kids!

Anonymous said...

Are you seriously picking on a 12-year old girl for saying "...worked with..." rather than saying, "...with whom I've worked..."? I'm all for correct grammar, but this is just ridiculous. Most people talk like this, including me. Yes, I went to an accredited university, and I'm currently in graduate school.

I guess when it's a slow gossip news day, some bloggers have to grasp at straws, huh?

Anonymous said...

What a terrible blog.

EvilBeet said...

Babs, I love you. This blog WAS missing a good old-fashioned discussion of Latin.

You know what? My high school Latin teacher was all lezzie, too. Strange.

Apparently some of the other readers of this blog didn't catch the sarcasm. I was kidding, guys.

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