"He had people constantly picking at him and prodding him and making sure the cape laid perfectly." - Kate Bosworth, on her Superman Returns costar, Brandon Routh
Kate has made an error in diction. She has used the past tense of "lay" instead of the past tense of "lie."
In the clause "the cape laid perfectly," the subject is "cape" and the verb is "laid," which is the past tense of "lay." "Lay" is a transitive verb that takes an object and means “to place something on a surface, to put.” The cape did not place anything on a surface. The correct verb for this sentence is the past tense of "lie," which is "lay." "Lie" is an intransitive verb that does not take an object and means “to be in or take on a horizontal position, to recline.” The cape was in a horizontal position, presumably on Brandon's shoulders.
This version of Kate's statement corrects the error:
"He had people constantly picking at him and prodding him and making sure the cape lay perfectly."
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