{"id":5552,"date":"2016-07-13T10:00:19","date_gmt":"2016-07-13T14:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/?p=5552"},"modified":"2016-07-12T11:50:13","modified_gmt":"2016-07-12T15:50:13","slug":"do-you-lie-down-or-lay-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/do-you-lie-down-or-lay-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Lie Down or Lay Down?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prepare yourself, because we are going to tackle one of the most confusing issues in proper English. The difference between the usage of lay<\/strong> and lie<\/strong> has been a grammatical nightmare for native English speakers since before the days of Shakespeare. Even the most articulate and educated among us seem to have problems with the distinctions, and you shouldn\u2019t worry if you get confused. But, it is always nice to get it right.<\/p>\n

Both lay<\/strong> and lie<\/strong> are verbs related to the action of someone <\/em>or something <\/em>being in a prone, horizontal position. The difference essentially falls between what or who is horizontal. This is because, while lay<\/strong> and lie<\/strong> are both verbs, they are different types of verbs. Also, please note that I am not talking about the transitive verb lie<\/em>, which is the act of telling an untruth, or the noun lie<\/em>, which is synonymous with a falsehood.<\/p>\n

Got that? Stay with me.<\/p>\n

Lay<\/strong> is a transitive verb, and is dependent on the presence of a direct object \u2013 the person or thing which is part of the action. For example, in the present tense, you lay<\/strong> a book down. The book is the direct object. Another way to look at it is to substitute the word put <\/em>or place <\/em>for lay<\/strong>. I will put <\/em>my files on the table. I will lay<\/strong> my files on the table.<\/p>\n

Lie<\/strong> is an intransitive verb, meaning that it is the action itself. I have a headache, and need to lie<\/strong> down. I may lie<\/strong> down all afternoon.<\/p>\n

Like sit<\/strong> and set<\/strong>, another similar pair of transitive\/intransitive verbs, it all depends on the action. I will set<\/strong> this chair here, and later I will sit<\/strong> in it. That\u2019s an easy concept. Unfortunately, the difference between lay<\/strong> and lie<\/strong> is more complicated. All of this might seem fairly straightforward if there wasn\u2019t that annoying problem of needing to apply these verbs in tenses other than the present.<\/p>\n

Here are several examples for the word lie<\/strong> used in various tenses:<\/p>\n

I commanded my dog to lie<\/strong> down. He lay<\/strong> down. Now, my dog is lying<\/strong> down in the sunny spot. He has lain<\/strong> there for over an hour.<\/p>\n

In proper usage, there is lie<\/strong>, lay<\/strong>, lying<\/strong>, lain<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Still with me? Hang in there.<\/p>\n

Here are several examples of the verb lay<\/strong> used in various tenses.<\/p>\n

Her teacher told her to lay<\/strong> her cellphone down, so she laid<\/strong> it down on her desk. Soon, the entire class was laying<\/strong> their cellphones down. Now everybody has laid<\/strong> their cellphones down.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the tenses which follow lay<\/strong> are laid<\/strong>, laying<\/strong>, and have (or has) laid<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n

Present<\/u><\/p>\n

Lie<\/strong>\/Lay<\/strong><\/p>\n

Past<\/u><\/p>\n

Lay<\/strong>\/Laid<\/strong><\/p>\n

Past Participle<\/u><\/p>\n

Lain<\/strong>\/ had (or has) Laid<\/strong><\/p>\n

Present Participle<\/u><\/p>\n

Lying<\/strong>\/Laying<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Remember, if you can substitute the word with a verb like put<\/em> or place<\/em>, you want to use the word lay<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s no lie.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Photo

Photo by Jill Goodell on\u00a0flickr<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Prepare yourself, because we are going to tackle one of the most confusing issues in proper English. The difference between the usage of lay and lie has been a grammatical nightmare for native English speakers since before the days of Shakespeare. Even the most articulate and educated among us seem to have problems with the…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":5553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[134956,135139],"tags":[333537,410903,302348],"class_list":["post-5552","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-grammar","category-english-language","tag-english-grammar-2","tag-english-tenses","tag-english-verbs"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5552"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5563,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5552\/revisions\/5563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}