Lay vs Lie

Lay means to set down. I am going to lay the book on the table.
Lie means to recline. I am going to lie in bed all day.
Laid is the past tense of lay. I laid the book on the table.
Lay is the past tense of lie. Yesterday I lay in bed all day.


Confused yet?

Oh, tenses

From an article I'm editing:


in the present tense as if it’s already happened.


Back to English 101!

We'll start with an easy one

English doesn't make sense. Don't even try to make it make sense because sometimes it just doesn't. Seriously.

"Lead" is not the past tense of "lead." Lead is an element. Its chemical symbol is Pb and its atomic number is 82. You cannot say, "She lead me to the cookies." I know you really want to because "read" is the past tense of "read," but just don't do it. 

There's a separate word for the past tense of "lead." It's "led." It's perfectly acceptable to say, "She led me to the cookies," provided, of course, that there are cookies involved. Or if you can't remember that, don't even bother with it all. Just say, "I followed her to the cookies." Problem solved.

You learned something today. And now I want cookies.