Updated daily because we have nothing better to do.
Tuesday, December 21, 2004 08:06:23 PM
ON LANGUAGE The Difference Between Lay And Lie
During the past several weeks, there has been significant confusion over the use of the words lay and lie. Many have taken the words to mean the same thing, and they do in most cases. Nevertheless, postdocme.net would like to clear up the differences.
As a rule, we use lay to refer to distortions of extraordinarily large magnitude (well beyond normal comprehension): Despite his financial chicanery, he lay down the countryâs energy policy. In every case, lay takes an object â pension funds, investor savings, expensive vacations. Whereas we tend to use lie for deceptions most people can understand: I did not lie with that intern.
Now that we understand the concept, letâs take a look at some more examples:
1) The company lies in ruins.
2) The head honchos lay themselves golden nest eggs out of employee assets.
3) The corporate executives
lie on a beach in the Caribbean while their workers are kept in the dark.
4) We wonât have to lay off any workers because the company's future is brilliant.
5) An extra $600M lies in this yearâs report.
6) Donât just lie there. Turn on the shredding machine.
7)The auditor lay down after a hard dayâs oversight.
8) The responsibilities lie at the top.
9) Everyone is laying the blame on someone else.
10) Someone has got to be lying big time.
Note: Confusion sometimes arises because the past tense of lie also happens to be lay.
1) The former-CEO lay in hiding.
2) Although it had no real earnings, the company lay atop the Fortune 500.
