Okay, here it is. I got into it, lol. But I did the quick 'n dirty, the basics, and last, some examples and detail. AND WHAT WAS THE POINT WHEN THIS IS SURELY ON THE NET MUCH MORE SIMPLY?! Not a soul will read this.
We're talking about the verb to lie.
"Much of the problem lies in the confusing similarity of the principal parts of the two words." -- yourdictionary.com
Which means that the tricky part is that there is the takes-an-object dealie (transitive vs. intransitive), and the tense dealie (present vs. a past tense), and they both influence which form of 'to lie' is correct.
SUMMARY:
Shortest cut, no niceties, stuff left out:
Just remember to say "Lie down, please, but first lay the book on the table" and "Yesterday I lay down on the bed but I laid the book on the table first."
With A bit of detail:
WHEN THE VERB TAKES NO OBJECT, ie IS INTRANSITIVE:
I lie down on the bed = present tense.
I lay down on the bed yesterday = past tense.
I had lain down on the bed for two hours by the time he arrived = past tense using 'had.'
WHEN THE VERB TAKES AN OBJECT, ie IS TRANSITIVE, or ACTIVE. (The objects are italicized to make it clearer):
PRESENT TENSE: I dance into the room and I lay first the book and then myself on the bed and sing a little song. I sleep. I dream.
PASTE TENSE: I laid the book on the bed. I laid myself on the bed, too. After I lay down, I dreamed.
PAST TENSE WITH 'HAD': I had laid the book on the table and had laid myself on the bed when the phone rang. (Past perfect or pluperfect tense, it's called.)
MORE DETAIL. Various Points and Examples. Tenses and Transitive vs. Intransitives:
In the present tense, the main single thing to do is to remember that "I lie down" and "I lay it down" are each correct, and that the difference lies in the 'it'. The 'it' in that sentence is the object of the verb 'lie.'
Like, if I say, "I pitch the ball," ball is the object of 'pitch.'
If I say, "I pitch," 'pitch' has no object.
Verbs that have an object (or 'take an object') like a ball, or 'it,' are called transitive verbs. Verbs that don't, such as the verbs in "I pitch," and "I lie on the bed," are called intransitive verbs.
Sometimes transitive verbs are called "active" verbs and intransitive ones "passive" verbs; but dictionaries use transitive or intransitive (or abbreviations of those words.)
Here are some present tense phrases in which verbs are used transitively. The objects of the verbs are in italics.
"I throw the ball."
"I love cookies."
"I look at him silently and lay the ring on the table. Dramatically, I depart. I am weeping."
See how all those verbs are present tense? But one is tricky, of course--the 'lay.' To some people it sounds like it's in the past tense. Which confuses them, because they think 'lie' is present tense and 'lay' is past. (That's the same confusion referred to at the top of the page by yourdictionary.com.)
But in the present tense, without an object (intransitive form) it's
"I lie down."
In the past tense, without an object, it's
"I lay down yesterday for two hours.'
In the past tense, using 'had,' without an object, it's
"I had lain down and fallen asleep when the phone rang."
Now I'll introduce an object, making the "to lie" verbs transitive. This is where the confusion arises.
A totally PRESENT tense sentence, with objects of the 'to lie' verbs in itals:
I look at him. I gasp. I lay the ring on the table. I walk over to the window and lay my hand against the pane. The pane breaks, embarrassing me so that I lay myself on the floor and pull the rug over my head. I lie there for hours. I continue lying there until Saturday...I lie there even now." -- Every verb there is present tense.
The three present tense 'to lie' verbs take no object. That is, they are doing nothing to anybody or anything. They're passive. They're intransitive.
Now I'll do the sentence above in a totally past tense, with the objects of the 'to lie' verbs in itals. Look what happens to 'lie' when it stops taking an object.
I gasped. I laid the ring on the table. I walked to the window and laid my hand against the pane. The pane broke, and this embarrassed me so that I laid myself on the floor and pulled the rug over my head. I lay there for hours. I continued lying there until Saturday... I have lain there ever since." (The last three uses took no objects; the first three did.)
As for the imperative, it's just "Lay that book on the table and then lie down on the bed." Same as the present tense. |
