Re: “Loaded gun found laying in Bayside parking lot” (July 4, Page B1):
What a saddening shock to see the misuse of the verb form in the Local & State headline about the weapon found in Bayside.
A gun does not “lay,” it “lies.” Most verbs are transitive – they take direct objects, as in “he throws the ball.” But some verbs are intransitive and can only take objects indirectly. They need to be followed with a preposition: “The gun lay on the table.” As with “lie” and “lay,” the same with “sit” and “set.”
I speak of this egregious error not just as a retired English teacher, but also as, years ago, a Latin grammar student. Oh, would that that discipline were still an essential part of one’s education.
Peter Horton
New Gloucester
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