Laying it down

[Joel S. Berson]

One might insert  "that" into the "laid" example, which makes it
clearer that it correctly means something.

Joel

At 9/19/2012 04:06 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>I say write down all three with analogues like "I saw John ate his
>sandwich." That'll save the other kids from potentially getting
>marked down for what are actually correct answers.
>
>Aloha from Maui
>Benjamin Barrett
>
>On Sep 19, 2012, at 9:12 AM, Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU> wrote:
>
> >
> > My ten-year-old grandson discussed an English assignment with
> me--addressing the (well-nigh obsolete) "lie" vs. "lay"
> distinction.  Specifically, the exercise called for the completion
> of sentences with either "lie, "lay," "lain," or "lying" or else
> "lay," "laid," or "laying."
> >
> > The sentence in question was "I saw John _______ his book
> down."  Assuming that there must exist a single "right" answer, it
> isn't clear whether that answer should be "lay" (which my grandson
> had chosen) or "laying."  I endeavored to explain that both
> sentences would be fully grammatical (with shades of difference in
> meaning).  But I wondered if the "laying" version would be
> preferred by the exercise-deviser, since "laying" results in a less
> "complex" sentence?  It's even possible to understand "I saw John
> laid his book down" as a grammatical sentence.
> >
> > Happy not to be in the fourth grade,
> >
> > Charlie
>
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org