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Davargas123 Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

Broken Flower - Gramatically correct statement?

We were browsing movies on our cable box today, my roommate and I, and we ran across the movie called "Broken Flower," and he immediately blurted out "That is a grammatically incorrect statement." I begged to differ saying that not only is it grammatically correct, but it's also not implausible to have a flower that is broken. My justification is simple grammar rules, Broken is an adjective and Flower is a noun. Adjectives modify nouns, therefore this phrase is 100% gramatically correct, in the sense that it is a phrase of course. We've had a heated discussion and I'd just like to put and end to it with some expert insight, so what do you have to say about this?
  

Top answer

Well, I wouldn't call it a "statement" -- it's a phrase, as you say. And I agree, it's not grammatically incorrect. It's not very idiomatic if you're talking about real flowers, but in the appropriate context -- for instance, if you were previously talking about glass flowers -- it would be fine.

— Khoff

  • Well, I wouldn't call it a "statement" -- it's a phrase, as you say.
  • And I agree, it's not grammatically incorrect.
  • It's not very idiomatic if you're talking about real flowers, but in the appropriate context -- for instance, if you were previously talking about glass flowers -- it would be fine.
  • I'm not familiar with the movie, but to me it sounds like a literal translation from another language in which "broken flower" would be the normal idiom.
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3 Answers
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Well, I wouldn't call it a "statement" -- it's a phrase, as you say. And I agree, it's not grammatically incorrect. It's not very idiomatic if you're talking about real flowers, but in the appropriate context -- for instance, if you were previously talking about glass flowers -- it would be fine. I'm not familiar with the movie, but to me it sounds like a literal translation from another langu
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Hi,
Welcome to the Forum.

The movie is actually called 'Broken Flowers' (starring Bill Murray).

You're right. Grammar is not concerned with meaning.

Thus, we can have grammatically correct sentences that make no sense. A famous one is this.

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously" is a sentence composed by
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Yeah I didn't actually mean to call it a statement Emotion: stick out tongue, just a minor mishap. Thank you for all the help and clarification!
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