All Comments on 'Will You Lie To Get Laid?'

I was with you nearly all the way, because the misuse of lay, lying etc drives me nuts.

But, then you wrote "They are lying inches away from him. He is glad that Mary has left them laying there." - NO NO NO - it should be "He is glad Mary has left them LYING there."

If it was productive hens, she could have left them LAYING there - and gone back later for the eggs.

But I feel sure that was just a momentary slip.

... probably one of the corollaries of Murphy's Law, that in any post about grammar there has to be one glaring error! As pointed out, Mary has left them LYING there. 'Laying' suggest she had LAID tables, eggs, bricks and such, but 'to lie' is intransitive.

A decent essay, and don't feel too bad about the slip. I hope more writers read it and learn from it. Thank you for posting and please have four stars for a great effort (Murphy will not tolerate perfection)!

Very good grammar lesson. Authors should also learn the difference between the homonyms 'your' (possessive) and 'you're' (contraction for 'you are') as well as 'its' (possessive) and 'it's' (contraction for 'it is'). Nothing spoils a good story more than (primary) grade-school errors.

The errors the others have noted will no doubt be corrected.

Here's one more: "Cupping her right hand, she lets some of the lotion drips from her left palm into it." "drips" should be singular.

I have to read my own typed material at least three times in order to have a reasonable chance of correcting my own errors.

I, too, volunteer my editorial skills to authors - especially where it's clear that their problem is speed rather than language skills.

I'd like to add the following to what others have already contributed in their comments.

there v. they are or they're

to v. too

cloth v. clothe

led v. lead

I look forward to reading more of your grammatical thoughts expressed as cleverly as you do in "Will you lie to get laid?" Indeed, you could do another, perhaps, on punctuation!

Thank you,

Ron

ram

There are many knowledgeable readers and writers here. When they start mentioning "singular" and "plural," "infinitive forms of verbs," "transitive" and "intransitive" verbs, I know I have met my match. Thanks for pointing out my oversight.

It is so nice to see someone who is prepared to take criticism in such an open and honest way. Kudos to you!

And needed. TX

Loved it and will take note of the grammar lesson.

Thanks for the story. It's about time someone spoke up about the bad use of grammer of late. Well done bgmisfun!

Thanx for your grammar lesson. This is one thing that drives me crazy. I hear people using "laying" for "lying", etc. and I cringe inside. It seems to be trend of our times for this misuse to be acceptable. I hear at all levels - even from professionals on TV and in some writing. Hope some people take notice, tho my experience is that people don't want to be bothered.

I wish all of my English lessons had been this much fun. I would have paid a lot more attention and most assuredly retained the information.

Thank you :)