Twilight, Not at All

blog pipi at bingi, an inventive header, wrote about Takipsilim, the supposedly Pinoy adaptation of the Hollywood hit "Twilight". The news, it turned out, was denied by the network ABS-CBN. And well, the grammar, it turned out, needed some validating as well.

Here is the article:

"Twilight will be turned into a Philippine TV series and it is entitled Takipsilim.

It makes me think what the other movies would be called? Bagong Buwan for New Moon? Ceasar Montano already did a movie with that title. Anyhow, ABS-CBN should have a better screen adaptation of Twilight. The title Takipsilim isn’t so bad.

Since Takipsilim will start shooting this February 2009, it’s safe to assume that we can watch this series as early as March. "

1.. The first sentence, a compound construction, moves the tense from future to present in a blink of an eye. First, it "will be" turned (future), then "it is" entitled (present). The "it" subject of the second independent clause refers already to the TV series, which has not been decided yet -- so the tense should be future. But for better construction to connect two ideas like these, try complex rather than compound sentence. "Twilight will be made into a Philippine TV series which will be entitled Takipsilim."

2. The use of "screen adaptation" invites ambiguity; the phrase is usually applied to the transfer of material from book to a movie screenplay. The transfer of content material from film to TV is simply called television adaptation.

3. The last sentence needs a reconstruction. "Since Takipsilim will start shooting this February 2009, it’s safe to assume that we can watch this series as early as March." It is best to sustain the point of view of a sentence. If Takipsilim is the subject of the dependent clause, it should be the subject of the independent clause.

Thus:

Since Takipsilim will start shooting this February 2009, it will probably be aired as early as March.

(ABS-CBN denies the rumor.)