Should You Use Lie or Lay in that Sentence?
Do you
freeze when it comes time to write lie or lay, never sure which is right? If so, you're not alone. Most of us
have stopped mid-sentence, unsure of the correct verb, grumbled about the language, and then reached for the dictionary.
Misuse
lay for lie when speaking, and your audience will understand the meaning.
The error, if noticed, is soon forgotten. As a writer, however, you can't
afford mistakes in your manuscript. While grammatical errors are permissible
in dialogue for the sake of realism, you would not want your highly educated character to make one, and your narrative paragraphs
should be error free.
Here are
some examples to help clear up the confusion:
To
Lay means to put something down.
I lay
(or I am laying) the book on the table.
Yesterday,
I laid two books on the table.
They have
been laying there a long time.
To
Lie means to recline or rest.
I lie
on the sofa (I am lying there.)
Yesterday,
I lay there all day.
I have
lain on that old sofa many times.
You don't
look well. Perhaps you should lie down.
To
lay as it applies to chickens
Hens lay
eggs. (My hens are laying.)
They laid
eggs yesterday.
I hope
they will lay again tomorrow.
They have
laid eggs all summer.
To
lie as it pertains to liars
She lies
all the time. You can’t believe a thing she says.
She lied
to me yesterday.
I caught
her lying to my brother last week.
She has
been lying since the day she learned to speak.
A final
word of warning: Never depend on your word processor to catch errors with these verbs. According to grammar check, "My hens
are lying" is proper, but no one has ever been lied to by a chicken.