Grammar in Grandma's Day

I may have touched upon this "gripe" before, but it annoys me so much that I must voice my thoughts again in hopes that someone will pay heed to my words.

Our grammar school teachers really instructed us in the proper use and tenses of most common verbs. We were taught a verb's three principal parts: I lie down today, I lay down yesterday, and I have lain down often. (The verb "to lie" means to recline or rest.) The oft-misused verb "to lay" is a horse of a different color (it means to place something somewhere): I lay my book down today, I laid it down yesterday, and I have laid it down many times.

Now, how can you place yourself—today, yesterday or whenever? To lie means to stretch out or recline; to lay is to put an object somewhere. Can't you see the distinction? Our teachers worked at this until we never forgot. We oldsters do not say, "Lay down, Rover." But how many (so called) well-educated TV speakers use the proper word? Maybe one out of fifty, I do believe.

And they also say, "It is between he and I." It isn't between he, it is between him—and me. Oh, I get so annoyed at today's ignorance of the basic rules of speech! The public seems never to have learned the nominative case or the objective case, for example. Ever hear of those? Well, if you study foreign languages, you will become aware of the need to know which "case" to use. It usually makes a big difference in how to spell the ending of each word (Amo, amas, amat …).

Don't get me started. I could go on and on. The three R's aren't what they used to be!