No lie: why we misuse lay

Dear Editor-on-call:

I always have trouble with lay and lie. I've heard that people lie and objects lay but it always sounds odd to me to say, "I'm lying here" instead of "I'm laying here." What is the correct usage?

Yours truly,
Don't want to lie

Dear No lie,

The mnemonic you mentioned is correct. Only a chicken, dinosaur or other oviparous creature should ever say "I'm laying here."

Except in the sense of producing eggs, lay is always a transitive verb. That means it is the sort of action that always happens TO something (its object). It behaves more like other "regular" verbs, taking an -ed sounding ending (though spelled differently).

Photo credit: Carool from morguefile.com

The basic pattern: lay, laid, had/have laid (NOT layed)

Here are some examples, with the verb in italics and the object highlighted:

Present: Lay your key here.
He lays down the law.
Present participle: We are laying all rejects on this pile.
Past: Jo laid her dry cleaning on the counter.
Past participle: The Duke had laid all choices before him.
Future: Xan will lay your order out in the morning

Gerund: Laying carpet is hard work.

Lie, on the other hand, is intransitive. It's a simple action the subject does. Period. But it's not so simple tense-wise. It's annoyingly irregular with a past tense that trips us up: lay! Argh.

Basic pattern: lie, lay, had/have lain

Photo credit: greyerbaby from morguefile.com

Present: Lie still!
Lulu lies on the hammock.
Present participle: I am lying in bed, reading.
Past: Hector lay there, dreaming of victory.
Past participle: The tiger had lain in wait.

Future: Dad will lie down when his shift ends.

Gerund: Lying around is relaxing.

I think another reason for your discomfort is that fact that this perfectly good verb has a homonym (sound alike) that means "to tell a falsehood." And who wants that taint to one's honest rest? Well, anyone who isn't a chicken.

We usually overcome that confusion by adding place markers like "lie down" or "lying on the couch" to distinguish reclining from speaking falsehood.

To summarize:

Use LAY when moving objects. 

Its tenses are regular, if strangely spelled.

Use LIE when the actor is moving him/herself. 

Its tenses are irregular.

How do you keep lay and lie straight in your mind? Any tips to add? Any other topics you'd like me to tackle in an "Editor-on-call" post?

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When do I use...phase vs. faze?

In response to a comment on my post "Funky Favorites and How to Spell Them," I'm going to be regularly featuring a pair or group of homophones to help you get better mastery over when to use which terms.

Mastering homophones is a lot like learning to tell fraternal twins apart. You know Jody and Judy aren't identical--each has a slightly different height and build. But until you know each girl as an individual, you're going to continue getting confused. It's a lot less helpful to know Judy is "the tall one," because you won't know who's who when one girl is alone. Better to learn that Judy has hazel eyes and straight, brown hair, runs hurdles in track and loves to crack jokes, while Jody has brown eyes and wavy, caramel hair, plays flute in the band and is more likely to read than speak up.

So, onto our fraternal twins, phase and faze. I picked this pair because a CP recently caught me using the wrong one in my manuscript. We'll start with a definition, then discuss usage.

phase (n) a particular appearance or state in a regularly recurring cycle of change; a distinguishable part in a course, development, or cycle.

(There are a few additional definitions for less common, technical uses of the term here.)

phase (v, transitive)  to adjust so as to be in a synchronized condition;  to conduct or carry out by planned phases; to introduce in stages —usually used with in.

Examples:
As a noun
The moon phase is waxing gibbous.
I know Shane has been awfully cranky, but it's just a phase. He'll get taller soon, too.
In this phase of my career, I'm making a lot of valuable connections.

As a verb
We phased the start times so the group would arrive at 10 a.m.
Ted would prefer to phase in the new procedure.

The key characteristics of phase are its relation to TIME, to PROCESSES and to PLANS.

faze (v, transitive) to disturb the composure of : disconcert, daunt.

Examples
Most people would be terrified to go into that pit of snakes, but Troy wasn't fazed.
Maddie's short skirt seemed to faze the judges.

The key characteristics of faze are it is ONLY A VERB, and it has to do with DISCOMFORT, or LOSING ONE'S COOL.

Do these distinctions help? What are some other homophones that confuse you?

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