Lay? Lie? Oh, just go to sleep!

I rarely if ever leave two spaces at the end of a sentence. I’m good about remembering the Oxford comma. I’m adamant about choosing the correct version of there, their, or they’re, but I still have my grammar challenges.

I’ve talked about some of my hurdles in past blog posts. In my post Confusing Rules, I touched on my shocking inability to figure out whether it should be affect or effect. Fortunately, my chances of getting it right are 50-50. In addition, when a sentence calls for the words “accommodate” or “recommend,” I normally come up with a different word, because I tend to forget how many c’s and m’s to include.

Anyway, the University of South Carolina Woman’s Basketball Coach Dawn Staley reminded me last week of a few other challenging grammar situations that cause me to struggle. In a meeting with the press on Saturday before she helped her team finish out the year undefeated and win the National Championship, Staley joked that she posted a tweet and wasn’t sure whether to say her players were in the locker room “lying or laying down.”

Oh, I’m with Staley. In traditional coach-speak, I’m with her 110 percent (not 100 percent, but definitely 110 percent.)

I never get lay and lie right and the good ole’ Merriam Webster Dictionary doesn’t help much.

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“Lay means “to place something down flat,” while lie means “to be in a flat position on a surface.” The key difference is that lay is transitive and requires an object to act upon, and lie is intransitive, describing something moving on its own or already in position. Beyond the present tense, the pair can become more confusing because lay is the past tense of lie, and laid is the past tense of lay.”

Merriam Webster, How to Use ‘Lay’ and ‘Lie’

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Yes, I read that and I found myself even more confused and lost. Staley’s comment made the news because when she was told that “lying” is the correct form, she shared with the reporters present how she was taught to remember the correct form. “I told our coaches, someone taught me, you lie to get laid, right?” The press room all responded with laughter.

I can’t speak to Staley’s way of remembering, that was a new one for me, but it got me thinking about other grammar principles that cause me problems: that versus which is a big one.

I find this one comes up all the time and I always seem to butcher it.

The clause that comes after the word “which” or “that” is the determining factor in deciding which one to use. If the clause is essential to the meaning of the sentence, you use “that.” If you could drop the clause and leave the meaning of the sentence intact, use “which.”

I wish that were all of them, but good versus well is another.

Good and well are related words that are sometimes used interchangeably, but they perform different meanings and grammatical roles. The rule of thumb is that good is an adjective and well is an adverb. Good modifies a noun; something can be or seem good. Well modifies a verb; an action can be done well. However, when you’re talking about health, well can be used as an adjective.

Of course, I usually say the hell with it and instead choose to say I’m doing great rather than saying I’m doing good or well. I may be lying through my teeth, but at least I’m not grammatically incorrect!