you think I'm saying when I say, "This is mental_floss."

That's just one of many questions of grammar, spelling and usage that we will

be exploring and correcting today.

Let's just start out one that no matter how many times I hear, I always

struggle with, even though, I know I'm a novelist. 1. Lay vs. Lie.

Lay is transitive; it needs a direct subject and one or more

objects, and the past tense of "lay" is laid, which slang makes confusing

because it is also something that you can "get." (Get laid)

So you lay down your copy of the brilliant and heartwarming novel "The

Fault in Our Stars"

If it happened in the past, you laid down your copy of "The Fault in Our Stars."

"Lie" does not require an object, and the past tense of "lie" is, of course,

"lay." So if you need to get out of gym class, and if you're like me, you do, then

you need to go to the nurse's office and "lie" down,

whereas Clark Kent "lay" down when he find that he could not save Toad from

the gigantic bear...

skeleton. 2. Literally means something that 100%, for sure,

no doubt, is true. For example, you did not

"literally" die when you fell down the stairs, because you are telling me the

story of your literal dying. 3. This is a bad sentence: I wish One Direction would

come to Indianapolis; I think Niall Horan would like it here.

If your sentence contains two independent thoughts, you have a

run-on sentence. You put a comma in the middle, that just gives you a comma splice.

Try using a semi-colon, or even better, a period. 4. There's this band I like called

the Avett[ay-vit] Brothers (possibly the Avett[ah-vit] Brothers) and they have this song I like

in which they sing, "I want to have friends that I can trust, who love me for

the man I've become, not the man

'that' I was," but it should be "who," it should be 3 "who"s - I wanna have

friends who I can trust,

who love me for the man who I've become. "That" is for non-people;

"who" is for people, and when you call a "who" a "that," you are dehumanizing the "who"

And don't dehumanize The Who (band); they already have enough problems just with

old age. 5. Your delicious new chili red mini cooper is not "for sell"

it is "for sale". 6. Okay "who" and "whom". "Who" and "whom" are both pronouns. "Who" is a subject;

"whom" is in object. So "who" is your favorite spice girl? But

"whom" do you like among the Spice Girls? Easy trick, if your answer would

contain a "he" or a "she,"

use "who"; if your answer would contain a "him" or a "her,"

use "whom." 7. If you're using a singular noun, use a singular pronoun, and if you're

using a plural noun, use a plural pronoun. For example,

everyone in our office has "their" friends, but everyone in

our office has "his or her" favorite episode of Duck Dynasty. 8. It's Catcher

"in" the Rye, but Sex "and" the City. 9. You "nip it

in the bud". Never nip anything

in the butt! 10. You couldn't care less. Saying you could care less implies that

you care at least somewhat, because you could reduce your level of caring.

11. "A lot" is two words, as in "I have a-space-lot of unwatched episodes of The

Vampire Diaries on my DVR. 12. "Lose," as in "lose" the game, has one "o";

as in "hey Justin Bieber, I haven't seen pants that "loose" since MC Hammer,

has 2 "o"s. 13. If you're referring to something you can count, use

"fewer". If it's an uncountable quality, like love, use "less".

For instance, there is now one fewer matryoshka doll on the Wall of Magic, and

it is a little bit less magical. 14. "Could

of" is not a thing. Neither is "should of", neither is "would of", you get the

picture.

"Could've" is a contraction of "could have"; "Should've" is a contraction of

"should have." I'll leave it to you to figure out what "woul've" means. 15. Speaking

of commonly said things that are not in fact

things, "for all intensive purposes" is wrong.

It's "for all intents and purposes." 16. Subjects: I, you, he, she

it, we, they. Ojects: me, you, him, her it, us, them.

So: I, you, he, she, it, we, they

ate ice cream. But Henry the VIII married and then decapitated me, you, him, her

it, us, them.

17. Here's a quick tip for figuring out whether to use "me" or "I." Take away the other

noun in the sentence. For example, "Mark and me"went to Starbucks, or "Mark and

I" went to Starbucks? First, you have to remove Mark, I am sorry, Mark.

"I" went to Starbucks, makes sense, but "Me" went to Starbucks sounds like Captain

Caveman, so you use "I"!

18. "Anxious" means you are nervous. It comes from "anxiety." If you're excited for

something, you're

"eager," not anxious. 19. "Good" is an adjective or a noun. "Well"

always an adverb. So you're not "doing good" because you're describing how

you're "doing." You're "doing

well," which is good. 20. "If" implies a condition, "whether" implies there are two

options. So "we don't know whether to watch Full House

or Sabrina the Teenage Witch" but watch Full House

if it's the episode about Michelle getting amnesia. 21. If it's coming toward

the speaker, use "bring". If it's going away from the speaker use

"take". So mark is "bringing" me the laser cat. Thank you, Mark, this is so awesome. I

am so.. yes!

Do it… why did you "take" it away? 22. "Historic" is something significant that

happened in history, but "historical" is just

anything that happened in the past. Of course, deciding what's significant is

subjective; that's why we have Crash Course History. All right, let's quickly

go through some words that sound the same:

23. "You're" means "you are"; "your" is something you possess.

24. "It's" means "it is" or "it has"; "its" is something that

it possesses. This is "its" eye. "Its" name is Cellophane, by the way, we can't tell you

the story; "it's" too cute.

25. You're going "there", something they own is "theirs" and "they're" all weird. 26. If you're

trying to say

"who is", contract to "who's". "Whose" indicates ownership or of "whom or which"

27. "Emigrate" with an "e" if you're moving away from your home country; "immigrate"

with an

"i" if you're moving to a new country. I mean, usually you're doing both at the

same time… it's really a matter of which country's paperwork you're filling out.

Pro tip: keep all passports. 28. "Two" is the number that comes after "one";

"too" is "also," and "to" is the only one you can use as an infinitive or as a

preposition, as in "I want to go to Disney World."

29. "Allusion" is the noun form of the verb "to allude".

"Illusion" is what Gob does on Arrested Development. 30. A "bear" is what you don't

want to encounter on your camping trip; it's also "to carry" or "to tolerate" as in

"bear with me" or "to stay in one direction": "bear right." "Bare"

means "exposed" or "naked" as in how I feel when singing karaoke.

31. "Elicit" is a verb; "illicit" is an adjective.

you can think of it this way: "illicit" drugs will make you ill.

32. "Led" is the past tense of "lead"; "lead" is the kind of paint you shouldn't eat.

33. You write notes on "stationery". Think

"e" for envelope and you remain stationary. 34. The Weather Channel is

completely unnecessary, because

Siri, whereas "whether" I already explained. 35. "Affect" is a verb implying

change;

"effect" is a noun meaning "the result". Some people think that you can use

"effect" as a verb as well, but those people are wrong. 36. Use "than" for

comparisons; otherwise, use "then" to mean "next", or

"later". Like One Tree Hill is better then the O.C.! Well, we can watch One Tree Hill,

then, instead of The O.C.

37. Speaking of my love for early 2000 TV, Mr. Feeney was Cory Matthews' "principal".

"Principal" with an "a" can also mean "the highest in importance":

the "principal" problem in this office is, for instance, that no one appreciates a

good Boy Meets World reference.

A "principle" is only a noun, meaning "a law" or "a rule"

38. "Accept" as a verb as in "you have to accept that we are back at the salon, and

therefore this video is almost over";

"except" is a preposition or conjunction, like "this video is over,

except for the credits" Thanks for watching mental_floss, which is brought to you

with the help of these nice people; every week we endeavor to answer one

of your mind-blowing questions. This week's question comes from user "IHate4Kids"

I hope not your 4 kids. "Why is the sky blue?

I don't know. Hank? Thanks John. And great question, IHate4Kids...

I guess you probably hate kids because they keep asking

questions like this that are seemingly obvious but actually ridiculously

difficult to answer.

The problem here is that we don't have to understand why the sky is blue to

understand why the sky is blue; we also have to understand what

is blue? Surprisingly this is a difficult question to answer, but if someone asks

you what blue is,

this is what you should say: the light that we see is a very narrow band of the

electromagnetic spectrum,

a spectrum of radiation wavelengths that stretches all the way from waves the

size of buildings to waves the size of atomic nuciei.

Visible light has wavelength roughly the size of single-celled organisms like

protozoans,

so small but not anywhere near as small as atoms.

Our eyes are actually extremely sensitive wavelength detectors in the

visible range.

We can distinguish between the longer wavelengths of red light, and the shorter wavelengths

of blue light. And that is what blue is, an interaction between

our eyes, our brains and certain electromagnetic waves. Now, as to what's

actually happening in the atmosphere.

Radiation can interact with particles in a few different ways, it can bounce off,

it can reflect, it can be absorbed and remitted.

But if it's interacting with particles that are much smaller than the wavelength of

the radiation, like molecules of the oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere,

the radiation is not absorbed or reflected, it's scattered.

Because nitrogen and oxygen are particularly good at scattering blue light,

with shorter wavelengths rather than other colors, blue light is scattered

out from the main beam of the sun's light, and all around the atmosphere.

Before scattering down to

our eyes. The effect? A yellow-tinged blue-less sun, and the beautiful shell

of blue light from Horizon

to Horizon. Again, thanks for watching mental_floss; remembers to submit your own

questions and DFTBA.