So what's the grammar rule-of-thumb to help you differentiate between laying and lying?
There's really no good mnemonic (at least, not that I've ever found).
Lay
always refers to someone or something else -- you lay a book down on the table, or you lay someone, or you get laid (by someone). If you're doing it on your own -- lying down, lying around -- it's
lie.
It's almost always
lie.
(And "now I lay me down to sleep", on which I blame a lot of this mess, is correct only because it's "lay
me" --
if it weren't for that pronoun in there, it would be "now I lie down..." Stupid fucking poetic structures.)
But... "Now I lay me down" sound so much prettier.
I need to lie down.
Okay, thanks.... I'll try to pound that into my brain. You'd think after an English degree and 12 years as a technical writer I'd have that down, but I have a mental block. I have to look it up every time.
When my mother was little, she thought, "Now I lay me" was a Latin word.
Okay, thanks.... I'll try to pound that into my brain. You'd think after an English degree and 12 years as a technical writer I'd have that down, but I have a mental block. I have to look it up every time.
Go sex. Choose sex. I mean as your memory device. You
lay
someone (or something, and ewww). You
lie
(about it).
Getting laid usually involves lying down. Lying afterwards is optional. I was hoping to continue this by throwing in "lye" but i really couldn't come up with anything that didn't give me a truly painful mental image.
I have a mental block
Seriously? I mostly remember the "it's almost always lie" part -- lay is only used in a very specialized sense. It's analogous to sit vs. set -- I sit all day, but I only set the table for company.
"Lay" takes an object. When you're getting laid, the object is you.
You know, that would be a great geek proposal.
"You are the object of all my verbs."
Seriously?
Well, that's kind of the nasty thing about mental blocks, isn't it? If it was logical, I'd be able to get rid of it and I wouldn't have this problem.
Really, usually grammar isn't a problem for me. Just a few glaring roadblocks.
I like the "go sex. Choose sex." idea, though. That might work as my memory device.
