"To lay" vs. "to lie"

Maria Murnane
January 22, 2019

Maria Murnane

Best-selling Author of the Waverly Bryson Series, and 2015 International Book Award Winner

I love yoga. I love my yoga teachers too. They are kind, positive, nurturing people who strive to make their students feel good inside and out.

They aren't always so great at grammar.

In nearly every class, at some point the teacher will gently say "Now lay on your backs." While I love this part because it means class is winding down, I always cringe a little bit at the grammatical error.

You LAY something else down. You LIE yourself down.

In the present tense, here are some examples:

CORRECT: I lay the book down and look up at him.

CORRECT: We lie down on our mats at the end of class and rest.

CORRECT: To end this war we must lay down our arms.

CORRECT: If we lie down on the grass, maybe they won't see us.

In the past tense, things get a little tricky. You LAID something else down. You LAY yourself down.

CORRECT: I laid the book down and looked up at him.

CORRECT: We lay down on our mats at the end of class and rested.

CORRECT: To end the war we laid down our arms.

CORRECT: We lay down on the grass, hoping they wouldn't see us.

In the present perfect and past perfect tenses, you HAVE LAID or HAD LAID something else down. You HAVE LAIN or HAD LAIN yourself down.

CORRECT: I have often laid the book down and looked up at him.

CORRECT: We have lain down and rested on our mats at the end of every class.

CORRECT: To end the war we had laid down our arms.

CORRECT: We had lain down on the grass, hoping they wouldn't see us.

I realize that this can be confusing, but like all grammar, it's also important. So lay down your pen and think about it before you put anything in ink.

-Maria

Maria Murnane

Want Maria Murnane for your next event?

Find out more information, including fees and availability.
Find Out More
Keep Reading
"Show" vs. "tell" in dialogue
Maria Murnane
Maria Murnane
May 28, 2019
One area where the issue of of "show vs. tell" frequently pops up is when authors use too many adverbs or ...
What should you include in your author bio?
Maria Murnane
Maria Murnane
May 13, 2019
Many debut authors don't know what to put in their bio. That's understandable! In fact, I ...
Mix things up to beat writer's block
Maria Murnane
Maria Murnane
April 15, 2019
I hate writer's block. It's the worst! As far as I know, there's no magic formula for curing this ...
"Show" vs. "tell" in dialogue
One area where the issue of of "show vs. tell" frequently pops up is when authors use too many adverbs or adjectives to tell readers how a character is feeling instead of using beats to show readers how a characters is feeling. (Refresher: A beat is a physical action.) Here are some examples of beats vs. adverbs/adjectives in dialogu...
Read More
What should you include in your author bio?
Many debut authors don't know what to put in their bio. That's understandable! In fact, I recently met a debut novelist whose bio at the end of her book said this: This is Lucy's first novel. She lives in San Francisco. When I asked Lucy about it, she laughed and said she knew it wasn't much, but she had no idea what else to write. Sh...
Read More
Mix things up to beat writer's block
I hate writer's block. It's the worst! As far as I know, there's no magic formula for curing this unfortunate affliction when it strikes, only various approaches to try until you find something that worksfor you. I recently had a conversation with a creative director at an advertising agency about the brainstorming process, which we agreed i...
Read More
When to use a hyphen
Are you using hyphens when you shouldn't be? Hyphens are used to avoid ambiguity when two descriptive words are placed next to each other before a noun. (They are also used for compound words such as dead-end.) For example, take the following sentence: The small business owner got a great loan from the bank. Is the business owner who got a gre...
Read More
Nail that elevator pitch
If you’re an aspiring author, get ready to hear the following question approximately 10 billion times: “What’s your book about?” As you already know if you’ve already written a book, pretty much everyone and anyone in your life will ask you that question, from people you know well to people you just met in the waiting room at your dentist’s off...
Read More
Ask your fans to help spread the word
If you're like most authors, promoting your work doesn't come naturally to you. The same goes for the vast majority of your readers. They may love your book, but it would never occur to them to actively spread the word about it. And even if they want to help, they probably don't know how. That's why marketing is so hard! One way to encourage yo...
Read More
Don't make this marketing mistake
I once received an email newsletter from an indie author in which he essentially begged for people to review his book on Amazon. I empathized with him because I know how difficult it can be to get reviews, especially for self-published books. But then the author did something that made my jaw drop, and not in a good way. In his plea he encourage...
Read More
Be proactive about giving away books to your target audience
I recently attended a good friend's wedding in Oregon. There were several events over the few days I was there, which gave me a chance to get to know some of the other guests. The bride is a big fan of my novels and has been vocal about them to her network, so many of the women I met had already read my books. Others had not but said they were e...
Read More
"To lay" vs. "to lie"
I love yoga. I love my yoga teachers too. They are kind, positive, nurturing people who strive to make their students feel good inside and out. They aren't always so great at grammar. In nearly every class, at some point the teacher will gently say "Now lay on your backs." While I love this part because it means class is winding down, I always ...
Read More
New Year's book marketing resolution
It's that time of year again, the beginning! Why not start yours by making the following resolution? In 2019 I will do (at least) one thing every day to promote my writing. I realize that marketing is a foreign language to many authors, and even those who are familiar with it don't usually enjoy it. But if you want people who aren't your friend...
Read More