Sufjan Stevens is known for his dry, subversive sense of humor, and he’s used that trademark wit to capitalize on the whole “writing an open letter to Miley Cyrus” thing.
In a new post on his Tumblr account, “The World Is Death,” he criticizes Cyrus not for her controversial public image (as Sinead O’Connor recently did); he instead focuses on the poor grammar used in her new single “#GetItRight.”
Here’s an excerpt:
Dear Miley. I can’t stop listening to #GetItRight (great song, great message, great body), but maybe you need a quick grammar lesson. One particular line causes concern: “I been laying in this bed all night long.” Miley, technically speaking, you’ve been LYING, not LAYING, an irregular verb form that should only be used when there’s an object, i.e. “I been laying my tired booty on this bed all night long.”
Beware the Present Perfect Continuous Tense.
