Lie, lay: a grammar trap lying in wait

January 11, 2011

“I’m going to lay down and take a nap,” the man said to his wife.<separator></separator>“You can’t lie that one on me. I know you’re lying,” she sternly replied. “You’ve never laid down for a nap in your life. What are you really going to do?”<separator></separator>Eeek. Doesn’t anyone know the difference between “lay” and “lie” anymore? Does anyone even care?<separator></separator>And furthermore, should we care?<separator></separator>Today’s usage of “lie” and “lay” is “totally arbitrary,” said Elly van Gelderen, professor of English. “The Oxford English Dictionary – Samuel Johnson’s dictionary – decided on these forms, and I think we should get rid of them. I don’t see them as errors, just that things are changing.”<separator></separator>The “correct,” or “prescriptive,” usage of lie and lay seem to be moving farther (or should that be further?) away from people’s conscience, as a careful reading of current newspapers illustrates.<separator></separator>Just ask the two people who uttered these sentences:<separator></separator>"You don’t get a choice really. You can lay there and you can die, or you can get up and get going again.”<separator></separator>“This is just money laying on the table that companies haven’t gotten around to doing.”<separator></separator>And, many of van Gelderen’s students don’t know the difference. As part of a 10-question grammar quiz, she asked the students to choose the right usage for lay and lie – “and only two students got all 10 sentences right,” she said.<separator></separator>(Lesson: ‘Lay’ is a transitive irregular verb – it needs an object: “The chicken lays an egg every day.” ‘Lie’ is an intransitive irregular verb that does not need an object: “I lie down regularly.”)<separator></separator>And then there’s the quandary of “who” and “whom,” which, van Gelderen says, has been around since the time of Shakespeare.<separator></separator>(Lesson: 'Who' is subject and 'whom' is the object of a preposition or verb.)<separator></separator>Speaking of Shakespeare, the dramatist actually wrote this sentence in “The Merchant of Venice”: “All debts are cleared between you and I.” (Another subject-object conundrum.)<separator></separator>But if you read a modern version of the play, you’ll find that it has been changed to “between you and me.”<separator></separator>(Shakespeare’s spelling of “cleared” as “cleerd” in “The Merchant of Venice” also has been “fixed,” and there are numerous other examples of how his language has been “cleaned up.”)<separator></separator>A new wrinkle in grammar is the increasing use of “goes” instead of “says,” as in the following exchange:<separator></separator>“He goes, ‘You are so last-year. Why are you wearing those ripped-up jeans?’ Then I go, ‘Because I just fell and torn them.’”<separator></separator>This use of “go” is “quotative,” van Gelderen said. “The speaker will say ‘go’ or ’goes’ then go on to quote someone.” Many people are self-conscious about how they put words together, particularly if they know they are speaking with a grammar expert such as van Gelderen.<separator></separator>If she happens to mention, say at the dentist, that she teaches grammar, the usual reaction is: "'Oh, my grammar is terrible.' Therefore I never say that I teach grammar,” she said.<separator></separator>So why bother learning the rules of grammar? Why not just let it all go and say, “Me sees you” instead of “I see you”?<separator></separator>“We stick to the rules because it makes us sound educated,” van Gelderen said. “To some extent it does empower people to learn grammar. It’s important in our society.”<separator></separator>And, she added, though grammar does subtly change, “too many people have a vested interest in keeping it the way it is.”<separator></separator>To say it another way, people want to see things stay like they are. (Or should it be as they are?)<separator></separator>_________________________________________________________________________________________<separator></separator>Pop Quiz:  See if you can use the appropriate form of `lie’ or `lay’ in the following sentences.<separator></separator>Choices: lie, lay, laid, lay, laying, lying, lain, laid<separator></separator>1. Did you want to .................. on the couch?<separator></separator>2. Did you ..........…your pen down?<separator></separator>3. Earlier today, I ................. down some towels to absorb the rain.<separator></separator>4. Last night, she ................. awake for a long time.<separator></separator>5. Have you been ................. brick long?<separator></separator>6. She was ................. on the couch.<separator></separator>7. I have ................... in the sun all day.<separator></separator>8. They have ................... down their arms.<separator></separator> <separator></separator> <separator></separator> <separator></separator>Answers: 1. lie 2. lay 3. laid 4. lay 5. laying 6. lying 7. lain 8. laid

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