https://rebeccabrewsterstevenson.com/2005/04/23/lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie/ Author of Healing Maddie Brees & Wait, thoughts and practices in waiting on God Fri, 13 May 2005 02:54:00 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.8 https://rebeccabrewsterstevenson.com/2005/04/23/lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie/#comment-193 Fri, 13 May 2005 02:54:00 +0000 https://rebeccabrewsterstevenson.wordpress.com/2005/04/23/lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie#comment-193 Karen,You are right. That trick is one I often use, but for some reason it didn’t seem to work this time for me. But now it does.And you go ahead and make comments anytime, anywhere you’d like.

]]> https://rebeccabrewsterstevenson.com/2005/04/23/lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie/#comment-192 Tue, 10 May 2005 18:42:00 +0000 https://rebeccabrewsterstevenson.wordpress.com/2005/04/23/lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie#comment-192 When you are confused about I/me, try this trick. Leave the other person out of the sentence, and say it again. Does it sound right? It works for me 99% of the time, and I only teach math. **Don’t you wish I’d stop adding comments to old blogs?

]]> https://rebeccabrewsterstevenson.com/2005/04/23/lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie/#comment-191 Thu, 28 Apr 2005 13:48:00 +0000 https://rebeccabrewsterstevenson.wordpress.com/2005/04/23/lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie#comment-191 Thanks, Willow, for your excellent insight. Because what you are so wittily proving is that, where we have prepositions that Make Sense, we most certainly Ought to use them.

]]> https://rebeccabrewsterstevenson.com/2005/04/23/lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie/#comment-190 Thu, 28 Apr 2005 12:51:00 +0000 https://rebeccabrewsterstevenson.wordpress.com/2005/04/23/lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie#comment-190 This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

]]> https://rebeccabrewsterstevenson.com/2005/04/23/lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie/#comment-189 Thu, 28 Apr 2005 05:37:00 +0000 https://rebeccabrewsterstevenson.wordpress.com/2005/04/23/lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie#comment-189 My love, prepositions are funny and really make very little sense. They are often random.I once had a Japanese colleague who had all sorts of trouble with them, mostly because, like my beloved wife, he sought to use them properly rather than simply imitating what he heard from native English speakers. The result was conversation that sounded very strange, but upon examination, made perfect sense: “I saw that in TV last night.” Yes, “in” makes more sense than “on” in that case, don’t you agree? But we just don’t say it. Once you realize prepositions are random, you’ll catch yourself using senseless ones all the time.For example:“For example” – why not “on example” or “to example” or “by example?”“On your own” – could very easily be “of your own” or “at your own.” Why is it “on your own” but “by yourself?” From now on, I’m using “on yourself.” “You can do that all on yourself” has sort of a twisted appeal to it, you must admit. Just try to stop me from using it. Or just try and stop me from using it, as we say in western PA.“From a distance” should be “at a distance.” I know they are both used, but “at” makes sense, “from” really doesn’t.“on time” – why not “by time” or “with time?” Is something sitting on time, like the u2 tickets are apparently sitting on Nat, waiting for me to take them off him? I hope Nat arrives on time so I can take the tickets off him. Then he can mount time again and ride off into the sunset. Or ride on into the sunset, whichever he prefers.There’s much more to this discussion than I can go into here. Or, there’s much more in this discussion than I can go onto here.Willow, lover of Birches

]]> https://rebeccabrewsterstevenson.com/2005/04/23/lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie/#comment-188 Tue, 26 Apr 2005 19:55:00 +0000 https://rebeccabrewsterstevenson.wordpress.com/2005/04/23/lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie#comment-188 Lynne,Happy Birthday (belated)!!! I hope it was happy. We’ll have to celebrate when you’re here.And Do Not Worry about the lay/lie thing. I thought we had this conversation a long time ago. It’s one of those quirks that makes you Lynne. If you used it correctly, I might not recognize you anymore. 🙂Can anyone– ANYONE — tell me which is correct in that first paragraph: “me” or “I” ???

]]> https://rebeccabrewsterstevenson.com/2005/04/23/lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie/#comment-187 Tue, 26 Apr 2005 04:13:00 +0000 https://rebeccabrewsterstevenson.wordpress.com/2005/04/23/lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie#comment-187 I loved this treatise on language, Rebecca! Probably, mostly, because my name was mentioned. 🙂 And, of course you know that I still don’t get lay and lie, at least not every time, anyway. Mostly not around you, because then I suddenly become selfconscious about whether or not I am using it correctly! But now, since I am THIRTY-SIX, perhaps I shall be better about it. ~LL

]]> https://rebeccabrewsterstevenson.com/2005/04/23/lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie/#comment-186 Mon, 25 Apr 2005 15:57:00 +0000 https://rebeccabrewsterstevenson.wordpress.com/2005/04/23/lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie#comment-186 This is why the study of Latin is so satisfying (despite the fact that we are, at best, only guessing at how to pronounce it): Latin is a Dead Language. No more messing with it. How nice.And no, I did not even remotely cringe (or seize up) at the near-synonyms at the beginning of that last paragraph. One thing I love about language is the shades of meaning in words, so list away!

]]> https://rebeccabrewsterstevenson.com/2005/04/23/lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie/#comment-185 Mon, 25 Apr 2005 01:46:00 +0000 https://rebeccabrewsterstevenson.wordpress.com/2005/04/23/lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie-lay-lie#comment-185 You are not cool and so forth?! I am shocked!But, and this was something to get my mind around when I learned it, in ancient Greek ‘they’ used what might seem unnecessary prepositions, prepositions that were in fact also prefixes to the verb. katabaino kata something … the ‘kata’ is a prefix and a preposition. It’s as if they were saying (if it were English) “I understood under the roof,” or “I embarked onto the ship.” That last is more subtle – but the ’em-‘ prefix on embark surely means the same thing as the ‘onto.’ So, why don’t we simply say, “I embarked the ship?” Or (since ‘bark’ means ship) just “I embarked to Paris.” Or Greece.So, the unnecessary, redundant, and even repetitive extra word is not unique to this living language of US English, but was present in the now-dead language spoken by Herodotus. (ha ha – did you cringe at all those near-synonyms at the beginning of that sentence?)We are not the only language killers, it seems.

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