Rocker Gives Miley a Grammar Lesson

Sufjan Stevens writes open letter to Cyrus
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 14, 2013 10:42 AM CDT

Indie rocker Sufjan Stevens has a serious issue with Miley Cyrus. No, not with her twerking, her insistence on wearing as little clothing as possible, or her inability to keep her tongue inside her mouth. Stevens has a problem ... with Miley's grammar. In an open letter to Cyrus on his website, Stevens explains: He's been listening to "Get It Right," and though he's a fan ("great song, great message, great body," he writes), he can't get behind the lyric, "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,'" he writes, continuing: "Did you know the tense here is also totally wrong. Surely you’ve heard of Present Perfect Continuous Tense (I HAVE BEEN LYING in this bed all night long [hopefully getting some beauty sleep?])." But he ends things on a positive note: "Girl, you work it like Mike Tyson. Miley, I love you because you’re the Queen, grammatically and anatomically speaking." Much nicer than the last few open letters Miley received from a fellow musician... (More Sufjan Stevens stories.)

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