I'm lying as I lie. [Gabe's Journey Into the Infamously Murky Lie vs Lay Water]
Let's hope he doesn't drown, eh?
It was only a matter of time before I jumped on this issue, I guess. I tried to avoid it, because I think everyone who talks about English language and its many pitfalls and oddities always brings it up. But recently, I've taken on a heep of beta assignments again, and I'm seeing—of course—a lot of confusion with lie versus lay.
This is an unfortunate little tick of English that I expect will be an unfortunate tick of English for the rest of its days, poor dear. It really is one of the worst conjugated verbs in our language, as you'll see in the chart that I've provided. It took me forever to get a handle on it, and for the longest, I had the chart below stickied on my computer screen, pasted in all of my English course books and notebooks, taped to the inside of my writing journal. I even have it as a hidden file over on Fag and a Slash, for when I need a quick reminder and do not have any of the above at my disposal—which seems to be when I need it most. Even now, when I beta, it's usually during the second pass that I catch these errors; it simply doesn't jump out on the screen for me!
It probably never will.
Fortunately, I hope this chart can help you as it has me.
| Present | Past Tense | Past Participle | Present Participle |
|---|---|---|---|
lie |
lay |
lain |
lying |
lay |
laid |
laid |
laying |
| Examples | |||
|
+ When I'm tired, I lie on the bed. + I was tired, so I lay on the bed. + I had lain on the bed, and then he came to seduce me. + Lying on the bed, he came to seduce me. | |||
|
+ I lay the book on the table; it is heavy! + I laid the book on the table; it was heavy! + I had laid the book on the table because it was heavy! + Laying the book on the table, I said, "Man, this is heavy!" | |||
As you can see, to lay requires an object. When you are to laying something, you use to lay. When it is you that is laying yourself, or when it the subject of the sentence laying itself, you use to lie. Oddly enough, the confusing sentence I'm lying as I lie has always helped me remember that the subject lies when it lays itself. Er... well, you know what I mean.
But I like that little sentence because of to lie's confusing relationship with to lie [as in to tell a lie/fib/fabrication]. Am I telling a lie as I lie down? Or am I lying down as I tell a lie? Oh, the deliciousness of it! I mean, it's really trite, but it helped me. Maybe it—or something similar—can help you on those days when the fingers are typing way faster than the brain can work.
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