Humanities – English: The Difference Between Lay and Lie Commonly Confused Words

“English department: from a television review, page 18, December 10: ‘The victim lays on the ground, sobbing.’ That should be ‘The victim lies on the ground,’ or if the past tense is wanted, ‘The victim lay on the ground.'”
(Corrections and Clarifications, The Guardian, December 14, 1999)

• • “A frustrating pair. Here’s the deal. In the present tense, lay is a transitive verb, meaning it takes a direct object: you lay something down. Lie doesn’t take a direct object: something just lies there. If you’re tired of holding something, you should lay it down; if you’re not feeling well, you should lie down. (Of course, I’m excluding lie, ‘tell an untruth’–this is just the reclining lie.)
    “Not too bad: if this were the whole deal, there’d be nothing to worry about. But it gets messier, because the past tense of lay is laid, and the past tense of lie is, well, lay.”
    (Jack Lynch, “Lay versus Lie,” The English Language: A User’s Guide. Focus Publishing, 2008)
  • “There have been some difficulties with grammar since I last wrote. Lay is a transitive verb (I lay down a case of claret every month; she laid the table), lie an intransitive one (he lies over there; she lay in bed until noon). Do not confuse them.”
    (Simon Heffer, “Style Notes 28: February 12, 2010.” The Daily Telegraph)
  • A 19th-Century Language Lesson
    “I will here give you a specimen of the errors which are sometimes committed by those who do not understand Grammar. This last-mentioned Verb, to lie, becomes, in the past time, lay. Thus: ‘Dick lies on a bed now, but some time ago, he lay on the floor.’ This Verb is often confounded with the Verb to lay, which is an active Verb, and which becomes, in its past time, laid. Thus: ‘I lay my hat on the table today, but, yesterday, I laid it on the shelf.'”
    (William Cobbett, A Grammar of the English Language in a Series of Letters, 1818)

• • A Lost Cause?
    “If the grammarians and the schoolmasters and the schoolmarms and the usage writers have succeeded in largely establishing the transitive-intransitive distinction between lay and lie in standard discursive prose, they have not done so well in speech. . . .
    “Notwithstanding the belief of some that social judgments can be solidly based on language use, the lay-lie shibboleth may be changing its status. For instance, several commentators, such as Evans 1957, Follett 1966, and Flesch 1983, are perfectly willing to give the distinction up; Bolinger 1980 thinks it is already a lost cause not worth defending; Coperud 1970, 1980 judges the consensus of his experts to be that at least some uses of lay for lie are verging on the standard. Flesch even goes so far as to recommend using lay for lie if it comes naturally to you.
    “If lay ‘lie’ is on the rise socially, however, it is likely to be a slow rise, as indignant letters to the editor attest. Bolinger observes sensibly that if you have invested some effort in learning the distinction, you will not want to admit that you have wasted your time. And by far the largest part of our printed evidence follows the schoolbook rules. On the other hand, evidence also shows no retreat of intransitive lay in oral use. So what should you do? The best advice seems to be Bolinger’s.
    “Many people use lay for lie, but certain others will judge you uncultured if you do. Decide for yourself what is best for you.”
    (Merriam-Webster’s Concise Dictionary of English Usage. Merriam-Webster, 2002)

• Lay It on the Line
  The idiom lay it on the line means to say something directly and honestly.
  “Sam Rayburn, the longtime Democratic speaker of the House, later said of Marshall’s congressional testimony, ”He laid it on the line. He would tell the truth even if it hurt his cause.'”
  (Nicolaus Mills, Winning the Peace. Wiley, 2008)
• Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
  The expression let sleeping dogs lie means to discourage someone from talking about a problem that others have apparently forgotten.
  “The police have asked us no further questions and the unfortunate gossip in the town has subsided. We begin to think that it may be better to let sleeping dogs lie.”
  (Leo Bruce [Rupert Croft-Cooke], Such Is Death, 1963)

“Lie and lay offer slips to the pen
That have bothered most excellent men:
You can say that you lay
In bed—yesterday;
If you do it today, you’re a hen!”
(Christopher Morley, “The Unforgivable Syntax,” 1919)

(a) The dog sleeps on the couch, and the cats always _____ curled up under the table.

(b) Don’t shout when you _____ your cards down.

(c) Linda _____ down for a nap after yoga last night.

(d) “So great was the noise during the day that I used to _____ awake at night listening to the silence.” (Muriel Spark, A Far Cry from Kensington. Houghton Mifflin, 1988)

(e) “Rosie scratched about, turned over a sack, and revealed a stone jar of cider. . . . Huge and squat, the jar _____ on the grass like an unexploded bomb.”
(Laurie Lee, Cider With Rosie, 1959)

(a) The dog sleeps on the couch, and the cats always lie curled up under the table.

(b) Don’t shout when you lay your cards down.

(c) Linda lay down for a nap after yoga last night.

(d) “So great was the noise during the day that I used to lie awake at night listening to the silence.”
(Muriel Spark, A Far Cry from Kensington. Houghton Mifflin, 1988)

(e) “Rosie scratched about, turned over a sack, and revealed a stone jar of cider. . . . Huge and squat, the jar lay on the grass like an unexploded bomb.”
(Laurie Lee, Cider With Rosie, 1959)

.