Lay and Lie Refresher Quiz

 

How’s your “lay” and “lie” savvy these days? These words can get fuzzy in the mind if you don’t exercise your knowledge often enough. So, with that in mind, here’s a little quiz on “lay” and “lie.”

 

1. If you don’t feel well, you should lie/lay down.

2. Yesterday, I didn’t feel well, so I laid/lay down.

3. Sometimes when I’ve felt sick, I’ve lain/laid/lay in bed for hours.

4. Lie/lay the book on the table.

5. Yesterday, I lay/laid the book on the table.

6. There have been many times over the years when I have lain/laid the book on the table. 

 

Here are the answers.

1. If you don’t feel well, you should lie down.

2. Yesterday, I didn’t feel well, so I lay down.

3. Sometimes when I’ve felt sick, I’ve lain in bed for hours.

4. Lay the book on the table.

5. Yesterday, I laid the book on the table.

6. There have been many times over the years when I have laid the book on the table.

 

There are two elements to getting “lie” and “lay” right. The first is understanding the basic difference between the two words. The second is knowing where to find the past tense forms.  

That last part is easy, so I’ll get that out of the way first: For the past tense forms, just look in a dictionary. Next to the main entry for any irregular verb, dictionaries always list the simple past tense form, followed by the past participle – but only if that past participle is different from the simple past tense.

So look up “lie” and you’ll see next to it “lay, lain.” Therefore, the simple past tense of “lie” is “lay.” (Confusing, I know. But if you can wrap your head around that fact, you’ve already mastered the hardest part of this.) The past participle, the one that goes with “have,” is lain.

Today I lie on the bed.

Yesterday I lay on the bed.

In the past I have lain on the bed.

For that other word, "lay," the past tense and past participle just happen to be identical: "laid."

Today I lay the book on the table.

Yesterday I laid the book on the table.

In the past I have laid the book on the table.

Notice how I keep mentioning a book with "lay" examples but not with "lie"? That brings us to the main difference between these two words. “Lay” is a transitive verb, which means it takes an object (a noun or pronoun).  “Lie” is intransitive, which means it does not.  

So whenever you’re laying *something* down, that’s transitive “lay.” If you’re just reclining, that’s intransitive “lie.” And if you can’t remember their past tense forms, just do what I did every time for about 10 years and consult a dictionary.

 

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