Lie and lay. They’re the grammar stickler’s equivalent of a secret handshake. Use these words just so and you’re signaling to like-minded language lovers: I’m in, a member of the club, part of the ...

The distinction between “lay” and “lie” continues to fade. Almost without exception, people say, “I laid on the couch.” They never seem to say, “I lay on the couch.” Plus, people usually throw in the ...

In her helpful handbook “Grammar Power,” author Jane Schwartz asserts that lay and lie are “probably the two most confusing verbs in English.” She would get no argument from me. In fact, the first ...

Lay means to place something down, while lie means to recline. The confusion often comes from their past tense forms, but understanding their distinct meanings and usage can help avoid ...

Of the various forms of the vexing verbs “lay” and “lie,” the rarest is “lain.” So I was particularly disheartened to see this recently in the first third of a 64-word sentence: “much of the forest ...

Not so long ago, the only people who had to worry about typos were named Gutenberg. Today, typos dog everyone with a keyboard, and that horrible feeling of realizing ...