Sammy Davis, Jr.

Song lyrics aren't supposed to be a fountain of perfect english, but on the other hand some are just so atrocious, they need to get called out. We're not looking for sentance fragments or the word ain't since there are too many instances to count.

Bad Grammar in Song Lyrics, Sammy Davis, Jr.

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Sammy Davis, Jr.'s, "I've Got To Be Me"

The Lyrics:

I've got to be me!

Why:

I've heard forms like "I've got to" criticized as if substandard relative to the likes of "I have to". But others defend such use of "got" as a auxiliary verb. But at any rate, even from the latter point of view, it should be "I've got to be I". So common has such phraseology as "I've got to be me" become that "I've got to be I" can sound awkward and lose some impact relative to the former. But still the issue is clear: The verb "to be" takes predicate nominatives, which need to be in the nominative case, not direct objects (which would be in the objective case). The pronoun "I" is nominative while "me" is objective, so "I've got to be I" clearly must be the grammatically correct way to say it.

Submitted by: Penelope Beckinsale

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