No lie: why we misuse lay

It's phonics Friday again, friends, and because I'm in the thick of preparing to launch a new poetry collection, I dug this post out of the vaults (from 2010) to help with a set of verbs that cause many headaches: lay (to set down or place), lie (to recline) and lie (speak falsehood).

Dear Editor-on-call:

I always have trouble with lay and lie. I've heard that people lie and objects lay but it always sounds odd to me to say,"I'm lying here" instead of "I'm laying here." What is the co...