In her helpful handbook “Grammar Power,” author Jane Schwartz asserts that lay and lie are “probably the two most confusing verbs in English.” She would get no argument from me. In fact, the first ...

Recently, I received a letter from a friend, Salisbury attorney, and former Superior Court Judge, John Holshouser. John commented on my last column, and he had some comments of his own concerning the ...

Of the various forms of the vexing verbs “lay” and “lie,” the rarest is “lain.” So I was particularly disheartened to see this recently in the first third of a 64-word sentence: “much of the forest ...

Tom Muellman of West Chicago asked that I tackle a subject I've been reluctant to, given its complexity. But because my sister, Jenny, asked me to do the same, and she'll bug me until I do, here goes: ...

The present tense is used to describe actions happening right now or events that occur regularly. It can also be used to refer to the near future. In German, verbs are divided into two groups: regular ...