Santa read me an excerpt from a letter that he received from Billy from Buffalo, and the error in the excerpt was all too familiar:

“Dear Santa,

I really hope that you’ll bring me a Samsung Galaxy S5 for Christmas. I’ve been very good this year. If you bring me this phone I will make a great strive to eat all of my broccoli next year.”

Can you spot the error?

Strive: it’s a verb. Always. No exceptions. But Billy is using it as a noun.

Billy’s heart is in the right place; however, he is mixing up his parts of speech. To express this idea more effectively, he could say: “I will strive to eat all of my broccoli next year” or “I will make a strong attempt to eat all of my broccoli next year.” However, if he can make a strive, he’s a better man than I!