Laying vs. Lying

OK, this has been bugging me for a while, so I just had to say something before I burst. Why do people confuse these two words so often?! It's really simple to tell them apart.

Laying = eggs. Hens lay eggs. Thus, when a hen is laying...you get the gist. Laying can only be used in this context or in the "laying on of hands", "laying of bets", "laying off" or "laying siege" (see here). When you refer to a person or object as "laying on the ground" you are effectively saying they are laying an egg. I'm sure you dont mean to say this, so the word you want is "lying" (and yes, I know it's the same as the one where you tell untruths). Thus, the person/object is lying on the ground. Get it?

Good. Now ya'll can stop driving me crazy

...I know that I get it confused since the past tense of "lie" as in rest or something, is lay. So yeah. Confusing.

Well, it IS confusing.

I always miz 'where' and 'were'. To this day I do not know the difference. I know, I should look in the dictionary, but I'm just lazy, lol. -So, what's the difference?

Darnit, I screw this up quite a lot, LOL. But I think your explanation and examples are going to help me remember it. Thanks!

I always miz 'where' and 'were'. To this day I do not know the difference. I know, I should look in the dictionary, but I'm just lazy, lol. -So, what's the difference?

"Were" is a past tense of "be". "Where" indicates a place. Something that might help is that "where" has "here" in it, which also has to do with a place.

Thank you for this! I knew that saying a person was laying on the ground was wrong, but never knew why! Now I do.

The thing that really, really bugs me about this lay vs. lie stuff, is when people start used lied when they mean layed.

A person lies on the ground. A person lay on the ground in the past. A person is lying on the ground now. A person has lain on the ground in the past.

A person lays an object on the ground. A person laid an object on the ground in the past. A person is laying an object on the ground now. A person has laid an object on the ground in the past.

My philosophy on this point is as follows:

Say it with lying first. If lying sounds retarded, then it's most likely laying.

Yea. I'm really technical like that

LOL

Thanks Snoink and CL -- I knew there was something about the past tense to put in there, but I couldnt figure out how to put it into words heh. Now you've saved me the trouble ^_^

I think I'm one of those kinds of people who get the lying on the ground vs. laying on the ground mixed up. Thanks for mentioning that, I probably wouldn't have noticed other wise.

Theres been time when I just stare at my work trying to figure this one out. Thanks, you just saved me some time

:]

Andrew.

Ooh, revival of old threads, my favorite!

You can also think about the Eric Clapton song "Lay Down Sally". He's grammatically incorrect, unless he's ordering someone to physically pick up Sally and put her somewhere. (But Clapton is still awesome.)

When I'm typing fast to get words out and stuff I always mix these up...luckily spell check underlines it in green and fixes it for me