Comments on: Lie/Lay http://blog.amamanualofstyle.com/2011/09/01/lielay/ Official blog of the AMA Manual of Style Tue, 09 Apr 2013 06:05:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Rachel Cooper (@RachelCooper_NS) http://blog.amamanualofstyle.com/2011/09/01/lielay/#comment-109 Sat, 03 Sep 2011 13:18:18 +0000 http://blog.amamanualofstyle.com/?p=281#comment-109 Thanks for this post. Fighting for lie/lay may be a rearguard action in a battle that’s already lost, but I believe it’s important for writers to get them right. When a writer posts to a blog, “I was laying on the couch,” I find it hard to keep reading. I feel the person is either lazy about writing or not respecting me as a reader.

I also wonder how much such writers actually read. Lie and lay are almost always used correctly in published books, magazines and newspapers. What kind of writer doesn’t notice or care about even the basics of grammar?

What we say informally with our friends is one thing. Language is fluid, and expressions come and go. But, as writers, when we use language with care we are conveying to readers that they’re in safe hands.

]]>