So, my wife and I were having a grammar debate last night. It's one of the many reasons I love her ... because I love to debate about grammar and love word play.
So does the television show America's Got Talent use proper grammar in its name?
Is it ok to contract "America has" to "America's"? And is it proper grammar to say "America has got talent"?
I say yes to both.
She says that it must say, "America has talent." (Making it just, "America's Talent")
What do you say?
By the way, I'm pulling for Nuttin' But Strings
9 comments:
Yes.
"America" is being used as a pronoun in the sentence.
I could replace "America" with any pronoun.
You can make a contraction with "has"
You could say, "He's got talent!"
I regularly hear, "Now he's got talent!"
reference:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/he
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contraction_(grammar)
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/talent
In this entry for talent at dictionary.com observe defintion number 3 where the sentence below is given as an example.
The cast includes many of the theater's major talents.
This sentence could be shortened to;
"The theater's got talent."
Hope this answers your debate.
It is not grammatically correct to use "got" with "has".
Wrong: America's Got Talent (America Has Got Talent)
Right: America has talent (America's Talent)
Also applies to "have got".
Wrong: I have got two apples.
Right: I have two apples or I've two apples.
Grammatically, "America's Got Talent" is acceptable. From a marketing perspective, the "Got" is completely necessary.
You see, unfortunately, some people would assume "America's Talent" meant either "America IS Talent" which is nonsense or "America's (Possessive) Talent" meaning the show was about the talent America (As an entity) has.
"America's Got Talent" removes the ambiguity and is therefore more grammatically correct than "America's Talent" (Though both technically are acceptable) AND also better for branding.
America's Talent would be a possessive.
America's Got Talent is not - it is meant as a contraction.
Thanks JensonB ... that's how I see it too.
I agree with your position.
It's got merit.
Why not "America Has Talent" it is grammatically correct and leaves out any ambiguity?
America's (possessive) Got Talent is poor grammar usage-period. America Has Talent! is without question proper usage. All other word play is both annoying and insulting - even if it's for marketing purposes.
Indeed, America's got talent. No English majors, but an abundance of talent.
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