What Does Lay Mean? Sarah lays the pencil on the table when she is done writing. Lay the vase gently on the table so we can fix the crack. Could you please lay the pillows back on the sofa? What Does Lie Mean? I need to lie down and relax! You should lie flat on the floor to stretch your sore muscles. I decided to lie in bed with the baby because we aren't feeling well. Simple Trick To Remember the Difference People sometimes confuse lie and lay when it comes to these meanings, often using lay when referring to themselves and lie when referring to an object.
Lie has an "i" in it. If you were to l i e down flat, your body would be in the shape of a capital "I. Lay has an "a" in it. It means to place something. The word place also has an "a" in it. When you're talking about pl a cing an object, use the word with an "a" l a y. Common Errors When Choosing Lie or Lay To get a sense of how to correctly use lie and lay in a sentence based on their meanings, take a look at these examples and their corrections.
Dishes in the Dishwasher In this case, the dish is the object that is placed in the dishwasher, so it takes the transitive verb "to lay". Resting on the Sofa In this case, a person is being told to place his or her own body on the sofa. Confusing Conjugations: Past and Present Tense Once you've mastered the difference between lay and lie in the present tense, you'll next need to focus on how to conjugate the verbs into other tenses, which adds a layer of difficulty.
Verb Present Past to lie lie lay to lay lay laid. Look back at the examples again to see these rules in play. When you are talking about reclining, the past tense of lie is lay! Beware of spelling! The present participle of lie is not lieing. The I becomes a Y: lying. Here is a mnemonic from the website Primility to help you tell laying and lying apart:. The delivery boy took pleasure in gingerly laying each newspaper on the stoop.
I can always tell when my friend is lying because she bites her lip. I spend rainy days lying on my couch. The past tense of lie as in, to tell an untruth is lied.
As you can see, the past tense of lie is lay , but the past tense of lay is laid , which is a recipe for confusion! Okay, so far so good…but it gets a bit more sticky when you look at the tenses. As we said before, in the past tense lie becomes lay, and lay becomes laid…which is also the past participle of lay. But the past participle of lie is lain. Thank you. And there you have it — an explanation of the often perplexing lay vs. We can now euphemistically lay down our pen or, actually, keyboard and rest our—.
No, wait a second. There is one more thing, one more quirk to lie and lay. This post contains affiliate links. As an author of several medical thriller novels, your lesson on lie vs.
I knew all this, but then I am seventy-three years old and was taught spelling, pronunciation and grammar in school, and also at University, where transgressions would cost you marks. Good grammar is important but flow and personal style also count. Grammar is not math, you can smudge a wee bit with grammar as long as the idea is correctly conveyed. Recently have wondered about lie vs. Here are several examples for the word lie used in various tenses: I commanded my dog to lie down.
Still with me? Hang in there. Here are several examples of the verb lay used in various tenses. Tags: English grammar , English tenses , English verbs. Keep learning English with us!
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