The phrase "lay a groundwork" is grammatically correct and can be used in written English.
Example: The committee met to discuss how to lay a groundwork for the new project.
"With this settlement, we recover precious taxpayer resources, fix a broken system and lay a groundwork for a better future".
Perhaps the greatest failure during the 1990's was that Russia and the United States did not lay a groundwork for business and trade.
"That said, there's no question that the main themes and exertions of the Clinton foreign policy did lay a groundwork for what Obama's trying to do," he said, citing arms control, nonproliferation, strengthening international institutions "and, for that matter, climate change".
So now he continues to go around the city in a moderately paced campaign, shaking hands at subway stops and outlining his positions at forums, hoping to lay a groundwork for September with a sort of slow-but-steady-wins-the-race strategy.
She said they appreciate "those kind of effects in older movies and [questions] sometimes how much more effective it is to use a ton of CG" and that they "always started with a practical effect and then moved forward from there to lay a groundwork of something that's actually physically, materially there".
I concentrate on two specific aspects of Mackie's work on causation because his ideas lay a strong logical groundwork for how to consider causal inference in LSAs.
Secondly, owing to multiple alleles in multiple parents, the method can exploit gene resource more adequately, which will lay an important genetic groundwork for plant improvement.
It was his insistence on holding a referendum to lay the groundwork for a new Constitution that precipitated his ouster.
Some have speculated that the shortages may be an effort to lay the groundwork for a gasoline price increase, potentially tied to the I.M.F.
But the new bid is spelled out in much greater detail, in an attempt to lay the groundwork for a crucial regulatory ruling in the next few weeks.
Mr. Danielpour said that his research on "Margaret Garner," the story of a fugitive slave, helped lay the groundwork for "A Woman's Life".
