Grammar Lesson for Naught
Writer’s choice trumps rules
Many of us get confused when conjugating the verb “lie” as used in the sense of reclining, versus telling an untruth.
Occasionally, the past tense of “lie” in this sense will be misconstrued as “lied” due to confusion with the past tense of “lie” as untruth. More often, the past tense of lie is incorrectly rendered as “laid.”
There are two reasons for the persistent error.
First, “lay down” is aurally indistinguishable from “laid down.”
Second, “lay” is not only the past tense of “lie”; “lay” is a present tense verb in its own right, the past tense of which is “laid.”
Yesterday, I edited my sister’s story, in which she wrote: “Last fall, the leaves laid on the pavement.”
I told her that she should change “laid” to “lay.” I explained that “laid” applies only if someone placed the leaves there. I offered an alternative: “Last fall, Mother Nature laid the leaves on the pavement.”
To reinforce the lesson as to the proper way to cast her chosen sentence, I concluded by saying: “The leaves now lie on the pavement; last fall they lay there.”
In response, my sister said: Since I haven’t managed to get myself laid these past seven years, I’m d@mn well gonna leave my leaves laid!
