Lay: Carla is proud of the house she built for her family, laying brick by brick herself.Lie: “Mum has lain in bed sick the entire morning,” said one of her kids, “let’s call a doctor.”.The education she gave them laid a strong foundation for their future. Lay: Carla’s kids grew to be very successful.Lie: Yesterday Carla lay under the bed while playing hide and seek, and today she’s got back pain.It was time to prepare the kids for school. Lay: At 8 am Carla laid down the book.If you're allergic to tables, just memorize that the past tense of 'lie' is 'lay', and accept it as a cruel joke played by the grammar gods.īut if you find it hard to just accept things and need to know how it works, let’s look at some examples for each tense to provide more context. But let’s not fall into despair 一 here is a tab you can refer to, with the various tenses of the two verbs: That’s right, clearly whoever set the rules for it was having a bad hair day. Promise you won’t freak out, but the past tense of lie is… lay. Unfortunately, things get a bit messier when you use them to refer to the past. If you remember either trick, you'll have no problem distinguishing them when you use the present tense. Looking for more grammar insights? Check out this article on the Oxford comma to learn when to use it. Or imagine you come home exhausted after grocery shopping: Place the bags on the table (lay them there!), and recline on the couch to take a breather (lie down to rest). So, the next time you’re struggling with these words, just imagine you’re flying at 40,000 ft in a first-class cabin: Place your butt on the seat (lay it down!)… and recline (lie down and get some sleep). To place something is to LAY it down, while you must LIE down in order to recline. Think of how these words sound: p LAYce and rec LIEne: If you’re not so hot on remembering elements of grammar like what subjects and objects are, here’s a mnemonic device that might help you remember how to use lay and lie: Place and recline. If you want to write that Carla lies down on the yoga mat, but again you’re unsure, ask yourself: “Lay what?!” Well, herself, so it’s ‘lie’. If you’re afraid you’ll confuse them when writing, here’s a trick you can use: since lay always involves an object and lie doesn’t, hijack the slang “Say what?!” and replace it with “Lay what?!” If the answer is an object, then it’s ‘lay’, if the answer is the subject, it’s ‘lie’.įor example, you want to write that Carla lays her watch on the desk, but you’re unsure whether it’s ‘lay’ or ‘lie’ 一 ask yourself: “Lay what?!” Well, the watch! So it’s ‘lay’. So, now that we’ve seen the difference between how we use these two words, is there a way to make it stick in our minds? How to use lay and lie correctly If you say “He lies down to take a nap”, it’s obvious that he will lie on a comfy surface like a bed or a couch. However, when the context is obvious, you can use ‘lie’ without stating where the subject lies. You’ll notice that in these sentences ‘lie’ is often followed by a physical place (i.e.
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