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or "Take the Money Enron" ON LANGUAGE
The Difference Between Lay and Lie
During the past several weeks, there has been significant confusion over the use of the words lay and lie. Many have taken the words to mean the same thing, and they do in most cases. Nevertheless, Chortler.com would like to clear up the differences.
As a rule, we use lay to refer to distortions of extraordinarily large magnitude (well beyond normal comprehension): Despite his financial chicanery, he lay down the country’s energy policy. In every case, lay takes an object – pension funds, investor savings, expensive vacations. Whereas we tend to use lie for deceptions most people can understand: I did not lie with that intern.
Now that we understand the concept, let’s take a look at some more examples:
1) The company lies in ruins.
2) The head honchos lay themselves golden nest eggs out of employee assets.
3) The corporate executives lie on a beach in the Caribbean while their workers are kept in the dark.
4) We won’t have to lay off any workers because the company's future is brilliant.
5) An extra $600M lies in this year’s report.
6) Don’t just lie there. Turn on the shredding machine.
7)The auditor lay down after a hard day’s oversight.
8) The responsibilities lie at the top.
9) Everyone is laying the blame on someone else.
10) Someone has got to be lying big time.
Note: Confusion sometimes arises because the past tense of lie also happens
to be lay.
1) The former-CEO lay in hiding.
2) Although it had no real earnings, the company lay atop the Fortune 500.
Copyright © 2002 Chortler.com http://www.chortler.com/
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enthusiast
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>Confusion sometimes arises because the past tense of lie also happens to be lay.
>Despite his financial chicanery, he lay down the country's energy policy.
Chortler has muddied the waters on this one. There's lie/lay/lain; then there's lay/laid/laid. The sentence given as an example makes no sense. It would have to be "he lays down" or "he laid down." Let's not even get into Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep or The Lay of the Last Minstrel. The whole lay/lie business is an issue most English teachers would just as soon skim over with the least possible fuss.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Despite his financial chicanery, he lay down the country's energy policy.Good catch, slithy! I'd just skimmed through the intro straight to the individual examples, and hadn't even noticed. Who's gonna shoot off the E-mail to Chortler, you or me? 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Who's gonna shoot off the E-mail to Chortler, you or me? Me am, ma'am. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I actually think you're all full of it here. That world authority on good grammar, Bob Dylan, clea ... um, kinda articulated the differe... Hmmm. Well, he sang "Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed" didn't he? [Dazed and confused -e] And, no, I didn't mean Led Zeppelin
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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>That world authority on good grammar, Bob Dylan...
He's the guy who wrote a song about the famous Texas outlaw, John Wesley Hardin, but for some reason chose to call him John Wesley Harding--one of the few times Dylan ever bothered to use the -ing form.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Must have been an off day. Are you sure it wasn't a scratch on your vinyl?
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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