She lied that she lay on the bed and laid an egg.
Recently, an editor sent me some pre-editing helps for a manuscript. Apparently, lots of people have problems with the verbs lie (as in to tell an untruth), lie (as in to recline), and lay (as in to put an object down, to have sex, or to emit an egg). The confusion comes in the past tense and those pesky past participles. Since most fiction is written in the past, you can see how embarrassing it might be to mean you were reclining, but to write you were emitting an egg! How horrible! Perhaps this is how good science fiction begins.
I also found the verbs rise and raise gave me pause. Luckily, I just did a search on the internet, and had no problems checking my participles.
If nothing else ever comes of my adventure in the writing and publishing world, then at least my grammar will have improved. Or do I mean "than at least my grammar will have improved"?
Hmmm.