I get it. You like to sleep . . . sometimes alone and sometimes with others.
So how do you know if you are lying or laying or laid?
No worries. I've got you as you tango through this particular grammatical dance.
Lie is to be in a horizontal position. You lie in bed. Lay is to place something down. You lay your clothes on the floor before slipping into bed.
Is there a trick to help you remember?
You betcha!
Think of lay like a chicken lays eggs, or remember that there is an I in lie, so use it when talking about yourself, either when lying down or when lying to yourself about being okay. (I'm fine. It's fine. Everything's fine.)
This covers telling untruths; that's lying or telling a lie. In contrast, laying is the present participle of placing something somewhere. You are laying the groundwork for disaster with all your lies.
But wait, there's more!
If you have a history of telling untruths, you have lied in the past. However, the past tense of the other lie is lay, and the past tense of lay is laid. You lie in bed all morning but lay there last night. You lay your phone on the end table but laid the empty glass of whisky there last night.
And finally, if you are dating, you likely lie to get laid, which is a hack outside of grammar.
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