Sentence of the Week #23

[From Michelle Yeoman and Barbara Gastel:]

Editing Solution: Last Week’s Sentence

As a reminder, below is Sentence of the Week #22:

After the workshop I will lay down.

The error in this sentence is the word lay, which should be lie. Thus, the corrected sentence reads as follows:

After the workshop I will lie down.

Lie means to be in a horizontal position. Lay, on the other hand, means to put an object down. (Example: “After the workshop I will lay my head on the pillow.”)

An important distinction between lie and lay is that lay requires a direct object. A direct object is the object that receives the action of a verb. In the sentence in this paragraph, head is the direct object. 

The situation might be especially confusing because lay is also the past tense of lie. (Example: “I lay down yesterday afternoon.”) Another form of the verb lie is lying. (“I am lying down.”)

Other forms of lay are laid and laying. (Examples: “I laid the book on the desk.” “I am laying the book on the desk.”)

And now, onward to this week’s sentence.

Sentence of the Week #23

The sentence below contains 1 small item that should be removed.

The custodian swept the floor, and then dusted the cabinets.

Please remove the item, and submit the corrected sentence and any remarks as a comment on this post. We plan to provide and discuss the solution as a comment in about 2 days, as well as including it in the next Sentence of the Week post.

Do you have a sentence that you would like us to consider using as the Sentence of the Week? Please e-mail submissions to Michelle at msyeoman@gmail.com with the subject line “Sentence of the Week”. Submissions should be your own work—don’t nominate a colleague’s writing :). 

Please also feel free to e-mail suggestions relating to this series.