Wednesday, March 05, 2008

You might be an English professor if . . .

. . . you hear Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" on the radio (and it seems to be on constantly), and you listen to "If I lie here / If I just lay here," and, instead of being moved by it, you think this:

No, you're still in present tense, so "lay" should be "lie." "Lay" is the past tense of "lie" or an entirely different verb altogether. Get with the program!

6 comments:

Amanda said...

THANK YOU! I can't stand that song and that has always bothered me.

undine said...

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one! He really does say that, and it would be *so easy* to make both of them present tense.

What Now? said...

It makes me crazy!

The nice thing is that I taught lie/lay to my students just this week, and one of them said, "Wait, that means that song is wrong. That's so annoying!"

ArticulateDad said...

I settled it in my mind by simply reinterpreting "lay here" as "lay [myself] here" with the object tacit. Perhaps I'm being too charitable.

undine said...

What Now, it sounds as though that became a light bulb moment for the students. I like articulate dad's explanation but am too irritated to be charitable about it, I guess.

Terminal Degree said...

I *hate* that song. The lie/lay thing drives me crazy.