Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Lay and Lie

Do you know the difference between “lay” and “lie”? Gerald Grow sums it up in a five steps along with practice tests that give you an immediate response so you know if you’ve gotten the question right or not. Check out the lessons and exercises here. I swear they’re the best I’ve found. Here’s a brief summary of the five steps.

-Step 1: Because “lay” is a regular verb and “lie” is an irregular verb, Grow briefly reviews regular and irregular verbs.

-Step 2: Grow explains that “lay” takes an object and “lie” doesn’t.

-Step 3: He shows how “lay” is commonly misused in the place of “lie”.

-Step 4: “Lay” has two meanings. Grow examines the differences.

-Step 5: Everything is put together with samples and a final test to see how well you’ve absorbed the material.


Have you had a difficult time determining when to use “lay” or “lie”? What other words mess with your mind?

21 comments:

  1. I have so much trouble with this!! Thanks for the link!!

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  2. yes, Yes, YES! These little words frustrate me. Looking forward to the link!
    Winged Writer

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  3. affect and effect. When I was writing psychology papers in college, I mixed them up all the time and it sticks with me, now. I hate it!

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  4. Objects lay, People lie -- present tense -- unless they're laying pipe or some such (sorry, couldn't resist).

    Affect/effect used to cause me trouble, as did nor and or. Awake/wake/awoke/awaken/etc. still can annoy me sometimes.

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  5. Thanks for the link. I'm going to read it later and finally master lay and lie!

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  6. Great link. I need to check this out. I lay and lie throw me off all the time!

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  7. Thanks for the link. I ALWAYS have trouble with lay and lie. Also, there's an award for you at my blog.

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  8. This is something I really have to think about and still sometimes feel like I'm doing it wrong. Thanks for the link!

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  9. Great link! I'm usually okay with lie and lay, but I do mix up laid and lain.

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  10. Thank you so much for this - I struggle with these two words.

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  11. ooooh i'll have to check it out, because i never ever get it right!

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  12. Nice link! There are so many helpful sites out there. I love it!

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  13. Thanks Lynnette for the follow on Randomities, and, oh, thanks so much for this post! The link is illuminating! Gerald Grow's website is so bookmarked! heh

    Also, I was browsing through your blog, and I noticed your agents blogroll. May I suggest you add Rachelle Gardner's to it? She's more focused on Christian market, but her blog contains excellent (and kind) advice for anyone who wants to hear them. Fantastic source of info! :)

    All the best,
    Mariana

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  14. Excellent. I thought I knew, but after clicking over and browsing through I see that that I wasn't always correct. Yikes!

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  15. I always trip up over who and whom!

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  16. I still slip up on on whether I want to lay myself down or lie down! LOL! Thanks for the reminders of how to use lie/lay correctly!

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  17. I have so much trouble I actually keep a lay/lie link on my toolbar to remind me. It's pretty sad. I also have trouble with effect and affect on occasion - although I really do understand the difference. Really. :)

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  18. sometimes the English language is very confusing!

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