Folks, it's "TOE the line" not "TOW the line!"

[SheilaT]

55. There are so many usage errors

that make me crazy. I may be the last person in North America who knows the difference between lie and lay, their verbal forms (lie lay lain and lay laid laid). Simply put, lie, which means to rest or recline, is an intransitive verb and stands alone. Lay, which means to put or to place, is a transitive verb and needs a direct object. You lay something down, like a book or a piece of cake. In the past you may have laid a book on the table.

You tell your dog to lie down. Yesterday you lay in bed until noon. And there have been times when you've lain in bed all day.

Lay also has a colloquial meaning connected to sex. I probably don't have to explain that one.

Now that this has been explained, further transgressions will be punished.