“Fred laid in a hammock all afternoon” should be “ Fred lay in a hammock all afternoon.”.“I am going to lay down and rest” should be “ I am going to lie down and rest.”.The most common mistake that people make when using these verbs is using a form of the verb to lay (in particular, laid) when they should be using a form of the verb to lie: Thus, it correctly employs the past tense of the verb to lie, which is lay. This sentence also describes an act of reclining that occurred in the past. Yesterday Juan lay (not laid) on his sofa watching television for three hours.Coat is the direct object, the thing that was placed. She puts or places her coat on the chair. When Sabine comes home every afternoon, she lays (not lies) her coat on the chair by the door.All active-voice forms of the verb to lay require a direct object to receive the action expressed by the verb, but sentence 4 has no direct object. These reports were reclining (resting) on the desk they were not placing anything there. The reports were lying (not laying) on my desk this morning.Because the subject of this sentence ( I) is placing the keys on the counter and because the verb has a direct object ( keys), we need a form of the verb to lay. I distinctly remember laying (not lying) my keys on the kitchen counter.This sentence describes an act of reclining that occurred in the past, so we should have used lay, the past tense of the verb to lie. Luke lay (not laid) on the beach and soaked up the sunshine.A very common mistake would be to use lay in this sentence, but the only time we can use lay to mean to recline is in the past tense. Here we need the verb that means “to recline,” which is “to lie.” The present tense form of the verb to lie is lie. Every afternoon we lie (not lay) down and rest for an hour.Many people are not even familiar with the past participle of the verb to lie, which is lain: “We have lain on every mattress in the store, and now we must decide which one to purchase.”īecause lain is an unfamiliar verb form and because it sounds similar to the past participle of to lay, which is laid, folks often use laid as the past participle for both verbs. The two past participles also cause confusion. One reason is that the past tense form of to lie is lay, spelled exactly like the present tense form of the verb to lay. I have laid my book on the table every night for years.I will lay my book on the table tomorrow.I am laying my book on the table right now.I lay my book on the table every night before turning out the light.The following list of sentences illustrates various tenses of the verb to lay, each with the direct object book: Something in a sentence using the verb to lay must be getting “put” or “placed.” That is, something or someone has to be receiving the action of the verb to lay. To lay is a transitive verb: it describes action done to something, so it will always have a direct object. Notice that we never use laid to describe the act of reclining. Remember that it means “to recline” or “to rest.” Put another way, the verb to lie does not express the kind of action that can be done to anything. To lie is an intransitive verb: it shows action, and the subject of the sentence engages in that action, but nothing is being acted upon (the verb has no direct object). Languages change, and we are certainly moving toward a time when style and grammar books no longer distinguish between lay and lie, but we aren’t there yet. (Of course, a second verb to lie means “to deceive,” “to pass off false information as if it were the truth,” but here we are focusing on the meaning of to lie that gives writers the most grief.)
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