After taking the Right Words quiz, I noticed that there are a few words in the English language that confuse me. Lay and lie are two that are very confusing to me. I have not yet mastered how to utilize these words correctly. I get them confused because they are so related. According to the AP Stylebook, lie means to rest on a horizontal surface. It also means to say something that is untrue.
For example, "I am going to lie down on the couch." Another example, "My mom told me to never lie."
Here is the tricky part. Lay is the past tense for lie. Lay is also an action.
Here's an example of using lay in the past tense for lie. "I lay on the couch for two hours."
Here is an example of using lay as an action. "Please lay the baby on the changing table."
The tricky part for me is knowing which word has what meaning in the context of the sentence. What will help me in the future is taking time to study the context of the sentence. By slowing down and discovering what action is being done and in what tense, I believe I will successfully identify which of the two words, lay/lie, to correctly use.
I found a mistake in an email conversation among our group project members. Someone wrote, "Jane, you're awesome and brilliant and lighting fast." They did not properly use the comma. They overused the conjunction and. The sentence should say, "Jane, you're awesome, brilliant, and lightning fast."
"Lie" and "lay" trip me up as well! It is also one of those scenarios where the proper version sounds very awkward and almost unnatural. If I'm being totally honest I might think someone sounds a little pompous if they were to say they were going to "lie on the recliner."
ReplyDeleteI also struggle with “lay,” “lie,” etc. Before college, I didn’t know there were so many forms of “lay.” I think the best way to remember them is to keep practicing!
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