Monday, June 21, 2010

An English Lesson Please

Spring Garden 009

I saw this in a garden shop not too long ago and thought it was the cutest thing!

But…I am not sure if it’s “proper English”.

I am thinking that maybe it should read “Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy marshmallows, which is kinda the same thing.”

Should the phrase read  “is” or “are” ????  Where is Mrs. Lonteen (High School English Teacher) when I need her?  This one is tricky!

13 comments:

Lisa@Pickles and Cheese said...

I think I answered my own question. I think it must be correct as it is because if you abbreviated the quote it would reduce to Marshmallows are happiness....not Marshmallows is happiness. Hmmm...this is very confusing!

Becky Mullowney said...

I think the quote is correct because
marshmallows is in the plural form.
I understand your question though because happiness is in the singular
form. So regarding both it would be:
happiness IS but marshmallows ARE

And no, I'm not an English major...
just a worship leader who also stuggles with grammer at times when writing songs.

Love your blog!

Kim @ Savvy Southern Style said...

Actually kinda is not even a word it is slang for kind of.

Anonymous said...

Very cute ~ marshallows bring even more happiness when paired w/ herseys and graham crackers! xo

Marianne said...

Hi, Lisa. I kinda think (actually, I know) that "are" is correct because it is referring to marsmallows, plural. You can trust me becuz I were a editor and prufreeder wonce, so that's how I no.

Patricia @ ButterYum said...

I understand your quandry, but in this particular case, "are" is referring to the marshmallows, which is correct. (tee-hee)

Stacey said...

Marshmallows are.... :)

I love your sign and others that I've seen that are similar. Simple but wise words.

Melanie said...

I would have said IS because I thought you go with happiness and drop the marshmallows but everyone else is saying the opposite so I am probably wrong:)

Anonymous said...

I think it should be 'are' because they are talking about more than one marshmallow.

Di

Unknown said...

Who cares how you say it. I'm hungry for s'mores!

Kathy @ Creative Home Expressions said...

This is what I like to read before I've finished my first cup of coffee ~ something that makes me think, Lisa! : ) I agree that I think it's correct, because "marshmallows" is the plural so it would be "are". Of course, I'm not an English major. I did get a kick out of some of the comments though!

Jodi Nelson said...

Way cute sign!

Nank said...

It's correct. If you substitute the word "chocolate" for the word "marshmallows" it would be Money can't buy happiness, but it can by chocolate, which IS kinda the same thing.