I expect after reading this article, your ears might now react to how Eric got the grammar of lie and lay all so very wrong in one of his most famous songs. I’ll leave you with a little musical relaxation. Getting them right is much better than being attacked by the grammar police. If it is only a matter of people understanding when you are speaking, well, maybe it’s not such a big issue.īut if you are a writer, you should take the time to iron out any knots you might have with these two crazy verbs. No writer in their right mind wants to make simple grammar or vocabulary mistakes. farther?ĭoes it matter if you use lay and lie incorrectly? Of course, it does. Related reading: What’s the difference between further vs. Sorry Bob and Eric, but your songs should be Lie Lady Lie and Lie Down Sally.Ĭan you spot why some of these popular song titles use lay incorrectly? Music is why we often learn to get lie and lay wrong It is easy to remember the difference, however. lay down.īut in the examples above, the lie down past tense is confusing because it is lay down. Where’s Susan? She’s lying down because of her headache.Īs you can see in the examples above, the same use applies when you use a phrasal verb form such as lie down vs. I had only lain down for a few minutes when the phone rang. He likes to lie on the couch when he reads. I think I’ll lie down quietly and see if it helps my headache. Lie means to assume a horizontal position, recline, or to rest and doesn’t require a direct object.
Lay means to put something down, often gently, and always needs an object.Ĭould you lay my new dress on my bed, please? In everyday use, it becomes easier if you try to keep remembering that lay requires a direct object and lie doesn’t. Luckily, the present participle of both lie and lay are regular. How often do you use or hear the past participle form lain? That’s not too difficult to remember.īut for, to lie, the forms are easy to forget because they are so weirdly irregular. The present and past forms of to lay are easy and regular and they are lay, laid, and laid. The reason for most of the confusion is that the past tense of lie is lay, which is also the present tense of lay.Įnglish really has a way of making things tough for writers sometimes. Where these two verbs get a little more complex is when we change from the present to past tenses. Lay and lie and their confusing verb tense forms Use lie with no object and lay with an object. With lie and lay, it’s relatively easy in the present tense. We lie together on the beach. (intransitive) I lay the book on the table. (transitive)
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