Chicago Style Workout 35: Word Usage, Part 6

/ March 26, 2019

Lie or lay?

Don’t lie down on the job! (Or is it lay?)

This workout returns to the usage glossary under paragraph 5.254 of CMOS 18. This time we’re focusing on words beginning with the letters l as in “literally” and m as in “might.” You may (might?) still have to look up lie and lay, but writing and editing are more efficient when you don’t have to go to the dictionary for words like loath and loathe or mantel and mantle.

As you take the quiz, keep in mind that we are looking for usage that would be considered correct even by sticklers (and see our disclaimer below).

Subscribers to The Chicago Manual of Style Online may click through to the linked sections of the Manual (cited in the answers). (We also offer a 30-day free trial of CMOS Online.)

Note: Style guides and dictionaries sometimes disagree. This quiz is designed to test your knowledge of The Chicago Manual of Style.

Now updated to refer and link to the 18th edition.

Chicago Style Workout 35: Word Usage, Part 6

1. lay; lie. She _____ down and rested.
2. lay; lie. These rumors have been _____ to rest.
3. leach; leech. _____ is a form of bloodletting. [Note: The answer for this example, as the first word in the sentence, begins with a capital letter.]
4. less; fewer. Their campaign platform promised _____ politics and more action.
5. like; as. It looks _____ it might rain.
6. literally. I literally died when you told me that!
7. loathe; loath. I was _____ to admit my mistakes.
8. mantle; mantel. Our most flattering family pictures get placed on the _____.
9. may; might. I _____ have won the marathon if I had entered.
10. mitigate; militate. His nearsightedness _____ against his ambition to become a commercial pilot.

 

Photo by Helena Jacoba (detail), licensed under CC BY 2.0.

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