"I even travel alone. I take a week and go by myself to a hotel on a beach. Laying out in the sun is a year-round thing." - Jennifer Aniston in Harper's Bazaar
This quote contains an error in diction. In the third sentence, Jennifer has incorrectly used a form of "lay" when she should have used a form of "lie."
"To lay" means "to place" and it is a transitive verb that takes an object. "To lie" means "to recline" and it is intransitive. It is sometimes useful to replace "lay" or "lie" with its definition to determine whether the word is being used properly in a sentence.
Jennifer has used "laying" as a gerund in the intransitive sense. Replace "laying" with the gerund form of its definition to see if its use in this sentence makes sense: "Placing out in the sun is a year-round thing." This is not logical. Try replacing "laying" with the gerund form of the definition of "lie" to see if its use makes sense: "Reclining out in the sun is a year-round thing." This is logical. This replacement exercise has proved useful in determining which verb to use in this sentence.
Jennifer's use of "out" is excessively wordy. The sun is obviously outside, so removing "out" from the sentence makes it more concise.
This version of Jennifer's statement corrects the error:
"I even travel alone. I take a week and go by myself to a hotel on a beach. Lying in the sun is a year-round thing."
- Read a Grammar Example of the correct use of "lay" and "lie."
2 Comments
Jennifer Aniston is making use of the popular idiom "to lay out” meaning to lie outside in the sun. The object of the transitive “lay” is an implied “oneself.” The “out” is necessary because it is part of the idiom. Only when “lay” is collocated with “out” does it mean “to sunbathe.” Though technically incorrect, we should be cautious in criticizing Ms. Aniston for employing an expression that enjoys widespread usage.
Indeed, this idiom is common. These are the results from a Google search:
"laying out in the sun" - 34,500
"lying out in the sun" - 15,100
Without the "out," the results are a bit different:
"laying in the sun" - 74,200
"lying in the sun" - 167,00
The use of the idioms with "lay" is common; however, students should realize that standardized examinations, and many English teachers, will treat these idioms as errors.
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