How clever are you? | Comments

A man went to go speak with a famed author that wrote about little known proper grammar. The police thought he may have been an imposter. They sent a man to interview him. The man said this, " At two o'clock I laid down, then took a nap. Was the man an imposter?

I think I figured this riddle out. If the author writes about little-known proper grammar, he would know that "laid down" isn't proper English. He would have to say either "lay down" or "laid him down."

Of course, I could be completely wrong, but I got that answer correct.

Celia, actually, you got the answer right, but for the wrong reason. Lay down would be present tense, but the man was speaking in past tense, so laid was the right tense. Laid him down, however, is proper grammar, but the man was talking about himself, so it would be lied, not laid, which means that you did it to something else. My explanations aren't very good though, so for more clarification, go to Grammargirl.com.