Using Bad Badly or Using Badly Bad

Over the weekend I watched the movie Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang (2005), staring Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer. In this movie the two main characters go back and forth correcting each others’ use of bad and badly in a humorous way. After Robert Downey Jr. tells Val Kilmer that he should say "sleep bad" not "sleep badly," Kilmer responses indignantly, saying “Who taught you grammar? Badly’s an adverb. Get out. Vanish.” This comedic exchange led me to this week’s Tips and Tricks topic: Using Bad Badly or Using Badly Bad.

Here’re the facts: it is correct to say you feel bad when expressing an emotion. Bad is an adjective that modifies the noun.

Saying “I feel badly” implies that there is something wrong with your sense of touch or something wrong with the way you feel. It’s like saying you don’t feel things correctly.

Badly is an adverb - it modifies a verb. When someone says “I feel badly,” the adverb badly modifies the verb (feel).

Think of it like this: would you say, “I feel madly” or “I feel sadly”? No, you’d say, “I feel mad” or “I feel sad.” It works the same with bad and badly.

This tip applies with all verbs that describe our senses (feel, taste, smell, etc.). For example:

• “I smell bad” means “I have an offensive odor.” / “I stink.”
• “I smell badly” means “My sense of smell doesn’t work correctly.”
• “That tastes bad” means “That doesn’t taste good.”
• “That tastes badly” means “That things sense of taste works incorrectly.”

Additionally, after most other verbs (excluding those that describe our senses), it is correct to use an adverb (such as badly). For example:

• “My review went badly.”
• “As a child, I behaved badly.”

Therefore, in Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, Kilmer’s character is correct in saying “I sleep badly” because badly is an adverb and the verb (to sleep) does not describe the senses. Don’t worry, Robert Downey Jr. — it’s a common mistake.

Like vs. As

This week, let’s examine the confusion between like and as. The words are commonly misused in both speech and writing when comparisons are being made. The trick to determining which word should be used in a situation is to take note of what follows the word.

When making comparisons, the word like is a preposition. A preposition is a word that demonstrates the relationship of a noun to something else (for a detailed explanation about prepositions, please click here to visit English Grammar Revolution).

*Like should be used when a verb does not follow it.

For example:

• Jen was obviously angry and seemed to roar like a lion.
• At six months old, Evan looks just like his father.

*Like compares nouns but does not demonstrate equality. In the first example above, Jen is displaying a mannerism of a lion, but she is not a lion.

The word as should be used as a conjunction. A conjunction is a word that connects words, phrases or sentences.

*As should be used when a phrase with a subject and a verb follows it.

For example:

• When Sara’s mother passed away, her Aunt Jeanine acted as her mother.
• When Clara is reading, it’s as though she is in another world.

*As compares clauses and demonstrates equality. In the first example above, Aunt Jeanine functions as (or, is “equal to”) Sara’s mother.

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The Continuing Drama of Lay and Lie

In last week’s Tips and Tricks, I began the discussion of the ever confusing lie vs. lay by focusing only on the present tense. Assuming we are all on the same page and up to speed with our present tenses, let’s muddy the water by shifting our attention to the past tense and the past participle tense.

(Remember, we are talking about lie as in “to recline” and lay as in “to put or place.” The present tense of lie is lie or lying. The present tense of lay is lay or laying.)

To begin the confusion, let’s look at the past tense of lie. The past tense of lie (to recline) is lay — as in “Yesterday afternoon, I lay on my bed for an hour.” Wait! Let me get this straight — the past tense of lie (to recline) is LAY? Yes, as confusing as it may be, lay is the past tense form of to lie (to recline).

The past participle tense (when we use have, has or had) of lie (to recline) is lain — as in “She has lain on the bed all day.”

Got it? Okay, moving on to the verb lay (to put or place):

The past tense of lay (to put or place) is laid — as in “Yesterday afternoon, I laid the folder on your desk.”

And the past participle tense (using have, has or had) of lay (to put or place) is also laid — as in “She had laid the revised proposal on her boss’s desk before leaving for the day.” Well, that is easier to remember because the past tense and the past participle tense are the same word — laid!

For quick reference, I’ve created a little chart to help you keep track of these tricky verbs:

Feel like you’ve got it down or want to see if you can remember which verb and tense is which? Test your knowledge of lie vs. lay in this quiz from GrammarBook.com.

The Here and Now of Lay and Lie

Driving to work this morning, I caught myself singing along to Bob Dylan’s song “Lay, Lady, Lay” as it played on the radio. As I belted out the familiar lyrics, I was struck by yet another casualty of the ever confusing “lay vs. lie.” To avoid this mistake ourselves, let’s take a quick look at these two tricky verbs.

*Note: For this post, we’re not talking about “to lie” to mean “to tell an untruth”, but the “to recline or to set” meaning.

The key is to remember that in the present tense, lay requires a direct object and lie does not. For instance:

• You lay the folder on his desk. (The folder is the direct object)
• You lie in the afternoon’s hot sun. (No direct object)

When talking about doing something now, you lie in the sun, and you lay down the folder.

Here are two tricks to help you to remember when to use lay and when to use lie:

1. The famous Bob Dylan song that I heard in the car this morning, “Lay, Lady, Lay” is grammatically incorrect! “Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed,” implies that someone else is placing Dylan’s lady on his big brass bed, which isn’t his intended meaning. Dylan is imploring his lady to stay with him, and grammatically speaking, Dylan should have said, “Lie, lady, lie, lie across my big brass bed.” (The same grammatical error occurs in Eric Clapton’s song “Lay Down Sally.”)
2. County music artist Chris Young’s song “Lay It on Me” uses lay correctly! When Young sings about his lady’s kiss that he wants her to “come on and lay it on me,” the kiss is the direct object that he wants placed upon him.

So in the present tense, in the here and now, Bob Dylan’s “Lay, Lady, Lay” is wrong because you lie across his big brass bed, and Chris Young’s “Lay It on Me” is right because whatever “it” is, it’s a direct object.

Remember, this is just the present tense use of these tricky verbs. I’ll tackle the even more confusing past and past participle tenses of lay and lie in next week’s exciting installment of Tips & Tricks.

More Confusing Homonyms: Its vs. It's

Let’s continue last week’s post on homonyms. “Its” and “it’s” are two more confusing homonyms that people, even native speakers of English, commonly misuse for one another. The source of confusion is that English speakers are used to adding 's after a noun to suggest possession of something; however, this isn’t the case with “it’s.”

To put it simply:

• “Its” is the possessive form of “it.” It expresses that “it” possesses, or has or owns something.
• “It’s” is the contraction form of “it is” or “it has.”

A quick check: If you can substitute the word “it is” or “it has,” the word that you should use is “it’s.”

Examples:

Its

• Its capital city was very hectic.
• I found its taste to be a bit too rich.
• I saw that movie on the night of its premiere.
• The dog spent all evening licking its paw.

It’s

• In my opinion, it’s too hot outside to run.
• It’s been a very eventful week.
• The sky looks like it’s going to rain on us!
• Do you think it’s time for us to leave?