Because TUO brought it up:
From the English Plus website, which is a *really good* place to find information about spelling, grammar, usage, and even punctuation. I get their newsletter regularly. Because I am a nerd. Grammar nerd at your service!
Lay or Lie?
Lay means "to place something down." It is something you do to something else. It is a transitive verb.
Incorrect: Lie the book on the table. Correct: Lay the book on the table.Lie means "to recline" or "be placed." It does not act on anything or anyone else. It is an intransitive verb.
(It is being done to something else.)
Incorrect: Lay down on the couch. Correct: Lie down on the couch.The reason lay and lie are confusing is their past tenses.
(It is not being done to anything else.)
The past tense of lay is laid.
The past tense of lie is lay.
Incorrect: I lay it down here yesterday. Correct: I laid it down here yesterday.The past participle of lie is lain. The past participle of lay is like the past tense, laid.
(It is being done to something else.)
Incorrect: Last night I laid awake in bed.
Correct: Last night I lay awake in bed.
(It is not being done to anything else.)
Examples: I could have lain in bed all day. They have laid an average of 500 feet of sewer line a day.Layed is a misspelling and does not exist. Use laid.
From the English Plus website, which is a *really good* place to find information about spelling, grammar, usage, and even punctuation. I get their newsletter regularly. Because I am a nerd. Grammar nerd at your service!
Labels: grammar
8 Comments:
Confession: I never knew the rules for lay and lie. I just fudged it. Thanks for helping me to be a better grammar nerd.
Have I told you lately that I love you?
@Rilla - I haven't got a clue either. Which is why I have this particular page bookmarked. And it's also why I almost always choose a different word.
@Amy - You're welcome!
I went and checked out the site. Sweet add, into the favorites it goes.
The main reason I wanted to post was cuz my wv was raidamn. :)
This makes my head hurt...kind of like numbers do to other people. :-(
ZOMG synchronicity. For you, re: this, Ceno:
http://www.blameitonthevoices.com/2010/02/grammar-nazi.html
ViperPilot: HA!
Although. To be persnickety, technically, the correct usage is: "My friend and me".
"My friend and I" is a statement in which the pronoun cases do not agree.
You wouldn't say "her and I"; you would say "she and I". "My friend" can be replaced with "her".
"I" is called the nominative case, or the 'subjective'. It can also be used as a predicate pronoun. You use it as the subject in a sentence: I threw the beer can.
"Me" is the objective case, or the object of a sentence: You threw the beer can at me.
In the case of the phrase "My friend and [me]", It parses thus:
[My friend]= pronoun phrase (subjective)
[and]= conjunction
[me]= pronoun (objective)
Hm.
I believe tomorrow's post shall be on this very topic...
"Layed is a misspelling and does not exist. Use laid."
Snicker.
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