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The education she gave them laid a strong foundation for their future.
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Think of how these words sound: p LAYce and rec LIEne:
#Past tense of lay eyes on how to
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. If you lie down on the job you’ll get fired.If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.They lie down in the shade to cool off.He’s been lying on the hammock all day.The diver lies down at the bottom of the pool.Let’s lie on the grass and look at the stars.Here are some examples of the verb ‘lie’ in action: You don't find objects after the verb ‘lie’, but you’ll often see a description of where the subject is lying. Lie means “to take, rest, or be in a horizontal position.” It’s an intransitive verb, which means it only involves a subject (the ‘thing’ performing the action). Let’s now take a look at 'lie' and see how it differs in usage. Kill the goose that lays the golden egg.Here are some examples with the object of the sentence highlighted: Thus, laying is always done to something. Lay means “to put or place something in a flat position.” It’s a transitive verb, meaning that it always involves both a subject (the ‘thing’ performing an action) and an object (the ‘thing’ that the action is done to).
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Click to tweet! Lay: Definition and examples
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