Grammar Hammer

I will proudly confess that I am a bit of a grammar nerd. I constantly find myself cringing when I read an essay marred by grammatical errors. As I pray that their errors are simply typos, I realize that not everyone was drilled time and time again about correct grammar. I remember several times throughout my childhood where my eldest brother, Matt, would correct the smallest grammatical error in my speech. It was as if a buzzer went off in his head whenever something was said incorrectly, and being the antagonist that he was, would always bring attention to my mistakes as well as the errors made by my other brother, Greg. I blamed his annoying grammar obsession on the fact that he was the oldest and had to be better than his younger siblings. I can't how many times I forgot to end an adverb with the -ly, as I would say things like "I want to play soccer real bad." Matt would chime in, saying, "Real-LY and Bad-LY; they're adverbs." So, you're all probably wondering why I just went on a long tangent complaining about my brother's annoying ways. Well, I'm afraid, after about the 1000th time he corrected me, a little voice (only sounding slightly similar to my brother's tone) began to correct me.
When seeing the errors presented in Under the Grammar Hammer, I was a bit surprised. Most of these were mistakes that I knew were common, but were mistakes that I usually didn't make. I tend to struggle with commas, but other than that, I generally understand grammar. However, there is one BIG exception. Lay vs. laid vs. lying vs. Je ne sais pas! I lay in my bed or I laid in my bed? Or, I was lying in bed? If anyone knows, please explain, thanks!