Layed Is Not Laid

I have had a hard time convincing my uncle that the past tense of lay is laid. Thinking that he is a lot older than me, he let me find evidences to prove him wrong. Good thing Google is on my side. I just surfed for a second and gotcha!

4. "LIE" and "LAY"

"Lie" means "to recline." Don’t say "I’m laying in my bed with a broken knee." No matter how often you hear this, it is still wrong. The correct form is "I’m lying in my bed with a broken knee."

"Lay" means "to put or place." E.g., "My husband is laying a pile of books on my bed because I can’t get them myself."

The past tense of "lie" is "lay." The past tense of "lay" is "laid." Most people know the difference between "lie" and "lay" in the present tense. The problem comes in past tense, which is truly diabolical. I have seen terrible errors in the past tense even in beautiful literary novels.

Here is a little primer. Please trust me. These are right.

1. Here I am, lying in bed with a broken knee. Yesterday I lay in bed with a broken knee. I have lain in bed with this same damned broken knee for a week.

2. Dan laid a pile of books on my bed because I could not get to them myself. Every book he lays down turns out not to be the one I thought I wanted. He has laid book after book down on this bed, but they’re all the wrong ones.

Read the full selection to this link by Monica Woods. Just a taste of how powerful technology is. LOL.