'Lay low' is what people tell you to do when you're sick, which means to rest and do as little as possible. However, this is a change-in-progress, because people lie and things lay. But it would sound quite odd to hear a native speaker of American English say, "Lie low."
Example:
-I feel awful. I have a fever, a stuffed up nose and a terrible cough.
-You'd better lay low for the next few days. Hope you feel better!
I love analyzing my native language, American English, and helping non-native speakers make sense of it. I've been doing this for fun with friends who speak English as a second language for nearly 30 years. I would like to first thank A.D., C.F. and E.A., and now P.G., for inspiring me to finally write this stuff down!
Showing posts with label change-in-progress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label change-in-progress. Show all posts
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
None of my friends are going.
"None of my friends are going" is a very common mistake in spoken American English; you almost never hear it said correctly anymore.
The correct sentence should be, "None of my friends IS going," because 'none' is the subject and 'of my friends' is a prepositional phrase and therefore not the subject. But Americans usually match the verb to whatever's closest to it, subject or not.
Example:
-Are you going to the dance Friday night?
-I don't think so, Mom. None of my friends are going.
The correct sentence should be, "None of my friends IS going," because 'none' is the subject and 'of my friends' is a prepositional phrase and therefore not the subject. But Americans usually match the verb to whatever's closest to it, subject or not.
Example:
-Are you going to the dance Friday night?
-I don't think so, Mom. None of my friends are going.
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