The Amphisbaena
While waiting…and waiting…and waiting for an editor to get back to me about a new manuscript, I’m hoping so hard that I will get to write this fantasy chapter book with all sorts of delightful legendary creatures–like the amphisbaena, a venomous reptile with a head on each end of the body. Both heads bite. Avoid at all costs.
Read MoreLie? Lay? Help! Part 2
Lie and lay would not be confusing at all if not for the past tense. That’s where it all goes bad.
Lie, remember, takes no object. Chickens do not lie an egg!
Past tense of lie: lay. Past perfect tense (the one that goes with have): lain.
Like this: I lie down today. I lay down yesterday. I have lain down many times.
Lay takes an object. You cannot simply lay; you must lay something. A chicken lays an egg.
Past tense of lay: laid. Past perfect tense: laid.
The chicken lays an egg today. The chicken laid an egg yesterday. The chicken has laid many eggs.
For extra credit: if you are lying, as in telling fibs, none of this applies. You lie today, you lied yesterday, you have lied often. Shape up and start being more honest.
For extreme extra credit: why does the children’s prayer say, “Now I lay me down to sleep?” I’m not a chicken; why am I laying?
Lay is correct in this case (a bit archaic) because it takes an object: me. The speaker is laying something (themselves) down to sleep. Please do not use this as a model in your head when you are trying pick between lie and lay. It’ll just confuse you. Stick to the chickens.
Read MoreLie? Lay? Help!
Have I explained lie and lay yet? Don’t stop reading! It’s easier than you think.
All you have to do is remember what my grandmother always said: “Chickens lay. People lie.”
To lie is to assume a horizontal position. And this is the key: It does not take an object. You don’t lie something. You just lie. You lie on the bed, you lie on the floor, you lie on a bench. But you don’t lie an egg.
To lay is to place something on a surface. It takes an object. You lay something somewhere–you lay a book on a desk, you lay a pencil on the book, you lay a paperclip on the pencil. And a chicken lays an egg.
So if you’re doing something to an object, just as the chicken does to an egg–it’s lay.
If there is no egg or equivalent, then it’s lie.
More next week on the complexities of lie and lay!
Read MoreHow To Kill a Tardigarde
I don’t know why you’d want to (they’re kind of cute, if also terrifying), but I’ve been researching tardigrades for a new book. And they are HARD to kill.
Heat? They can survive temps up to 300 F.
Cold? They’re fine at -200 F.
Pressure? They’d be perky at the bottom of the Marianna’s Trench.
Vacuum? They have been blasted into space and survived. Some laid eggs in space. Eggs that hatched.
They are tiny (1.5 millimeters long at most), harmless, and indomitable.
Read MoreSarah L. Thomson
A children’s book author publishing award-winning nonfiction, poetry, picture books and novels including…
“Readers will treasure the blossoming friendship between opposites in this whimsically illustrated tale. Short chapters and plenty of action make for an accessible and appealing reading experience. . . . Touching and inspiring.”
—Kirkus Reviews