Everyone loves a good pop song . . . but pop songs are notorious for having bad grammar. The mentality of singers and songwriters seems to be “If the grammatically correct sentence doesn’t work, change it!”
Bruno Mars’ song “When I Was Your Man” is a popular hit with many mistakes. Can you spot the errors? Listen to the song and read the lyrics below. Afterwards, scroll down and see if you spotted all of the errors. Hint: many of the errors are with this construction MODAL + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE.
“When I Was Your Man”
Our song on the radio but it don’t sound the same
When our friends talk about you, all it does is just tear me down
‘Cause my heart breaks a little when I hear your nameIt all just sounds like oooooh…
Mmm, too young, too dumb to realize
That I should’ve bought you flowers
And held your hand
Should’ve gave you all my hours
When I had the chance
Take you to every party
‘Cause all you wanted to do was dance
Now my baby’s dancing
But she’s dancing with another manMy pride, my ego, my needs, and my selfish ways
Caused a good strong woman like you to walk out my life
Now I never, never get to clean up the mess I made, ohh…
And it haunts me every time I close my eyesIt all just sounds like oooooh…
Mmm, too young, too dumb to realize
That I should’ve bought you flowers
And held your hand
Should’ve gave you all my hours
When I had the chance
Take you to every party
‘Cause all you wanted to do was dance
Now my baby’s dancing
But she’s dancing with another manAlthough it hurts
I’ll be the first to say that I was wrong
Oh, I know I’m probably much too late
To try and apologize for my mistakes
But I just want you to know
I hope he buys you flowers
I hope he holds your hand
Give you all his hours
When he has the chance
Take you to every party
‘Cause I remember how much you loved to dance
Do all the things I should have done
When I was your man
Do all the things I should have done
When I was your man
Our song [is] on the radio but it
When our friends talk about you, all it does is just tear me down
‘Cause my heart breaks a little when I hear your nameIt all just sounds like oooooh…
Mmm, too young, too dumb to realize
That I should’ve bought you flowers
And held your hand
Should’ve
When I had the chance
‘Cause all you wanted to do was dance
Now my baby’s dancing
But she’s dancing with another manMy pride, my ego, my needs, and my selfish ways
Caused a good strong woman like you to walk out my life
Now I never, never get to clean up the mess I made, ohh…
And it haunts me every time I close my eyesIt all just sounds like oooooh…
Mmm, too young, too dumb to realize
That I should’ve bought you flowers
And held your hand
Should’ve
When I had the chance
‘Cause all you wanted to do was dance
Now my baby’s dancing
But she’s dancing with another manAlthough it hurts
I’ll be the first to say that I was wrong
Oh, I know I’m probably much too late
To try and apologize for my mistakes
But I just want you to know
I hope he buys you flowers
I hope he holds your hand
Give [gives] you all his hours
When he has the chance
Take [takes] you to every party
‘Cause I remember how much you loved to dance
Do [does] all the things I should have done
When I was your man
Do [does]all the things I should have done
When I was your man
Mistakes Explained
[It is the] Same bed but it feels just a little bit bigger now
- We use “the” with “same.”
Our song [is] on the radio but it don’t [doesn’t] sound the same
- “Song on the radio” is missing a verb! And “song” is singular, so it should be “doesn’t” and not “do.”
I should’ve bought you flowers
And held your hand
Should’ve gave [given] you all my hours
When I had the chance
Take [taken] you to every party
- This uses the construction MODAL + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE. It is used to talk about things we regret. With this construction, it should read: “I should have bought you flowers, I should have held your hand, I should have taken you to every party.”
I hope he buys you flowers
I hope he holds your hand
Give [gives] you all his hours
When he has the chance
Take [takes] you to every party
‘Cause I remember how much you loved to dance
Do [does] all the things I should have done
When I was your man
- “Give” and “take” and “do” do not agree with “he.”