"Lay" is transitive; "lie" is intransitive. (Although it gets weird where "lay" is the past tense of "lie." WTF, English? Branch out a little!)
We use the latest in scientific technology and state-of-the-art weaponry and you, if I understand correctly, poke them with a sharp stick.
Dr. Walsh ,'Potential'
Spike's Bitches 45: That sure as hell wasn't in the brochure.
[NAFDA] Spike-centric discussion. Lusty, lewd (only occasionally crude), risqué (and frisqué), bawdy (Oh, lawdy!), flirty ('cuz we're purty), raunchy talk inside. Caveat lector.
Steph L. - Dec 15, 2009 10:54:51 am PST #3756 of 30000
I look more rad than Lutheranism
-t - Dec 15, 2009 10:58:21 am PST #3757 of 30000
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
Transitive is the one that takes object? So "To Lay Me Down" and "Now I lay me down to sleep" are useful to remember and not just there to confuse me. Thank you!
Oh, dear, I am suddenly sure we have had this conversation before complete with revelation. Remember it this time, brain!
smonster - Dec 15, 2009 11:02:42 am PST #3758 of 30000
We won’t stop until everyone is gay.
Affect is the verb. Also a noun in mental health. Umm. That turned out less helpful than I had hoped. But effect is NOT a verb. Evah. (right?)
Posting from the stylist's chair. After a consultation I went with chunky layers of two different reds. Still doing the Rihanna cut. I can't wait to see it! And I should be able to stretch my certificate for another color session, so that's a win. She's leaving the top layer natural so roots won't show as much.
Steph L. - Dec 15, 2009 11:02:49 am PST #3759 of 30000
I look more rad than Lutheranism
Transitive is the one that takes object? So "To Lay Me Down" and "Now I lay me down to sleep" are useful to remember and not just there to confuse me. Thank you!
Right. You lay the book on the table. You lie down. The confusing part is as follows:
Q: What did you do yesterday? A: I was so lazy, I lay on the couch all day.
That just sounds wrong. But it's not.
Aims - Dec 15, 2009 11:03:25 am PST #3760 of 30000
Shit's all sorts of different now.
This affects me in a strange, which causes a very odd effect?
Steph L. - Dec 15, 2009 11:03:48 am PST #3761 of 30000
I look more rad than Lutheranism
But effect is NOT a verb. Evah. (right?)
Wrong. As a verb, "effect" means "to bring about." Like, "In her job, smonster effects change in the way students recycle."
Steph L. - Dec 15, 2009 11:05:29 am PST #3762 of 30000
I look more rad than Lutheranism
I LOVE GEEKING OUT ABOUT LANGUAGE!
Ahem.
Carry on.
EpicTangent - Dec 15, 2009 11:06:51 am PST #3763 of 30000
Why isn't everyone pelting me with JOY, dammit? - Zenkitty
"Lay" is transitive; "lie" is intransitive.
Transitive is the one that takes object?
See, this helps me not at all. I can never remember the rules, I'm what I like to call (err, starting right now) an instinctive grammarian. I just know what I know - which makes the ones I don't know hard to figger. (Thankfully, lay/lie is one I just get). My instincts keep falling down on affect/effect, though.
Seska (the Watcher-in-Training) - Dec 15, 2009 11:08:32 am PST #3764 of 30000
"We're all stories, in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?"
All the grammar rules that annoy buffistas are things I struggle with... Things with which I struggle.
As a dyslexic person, I should not be as RAAAAH as I am about grammar. My spelling and sentence construction are... interesting. The fact that I happen to 'feel' my way through grammar fairly successfully is not anything that I achieved for myself.
I have trouble with the actual rule for affect/effect. I just know which one looks right and which one looks wrong. (You would not believe the grammar-rule-learning work I had to put in before I could teach linguistics.)
Dana - Dec 15, 2009 11:10:51 am PST #3765 of 30000
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.
That's the problem with effect and affect. One's normally a noun and one's a verb, except when one's a verb and one's a noun.