I wrote a review of the movie Detroit in my blog and in the section What irked me about the film, I started in the following fashion: – No doubt, Detroit is an engrossing flick, its greatest problem lied in the fact that it runs much longer than it should have. A friend of mine … Read more
I understand the difference between the verbs lie and lay; however, things seem to become somewhat confusing in certain sentences. For example: "The books were laid/lain out on the counter." In this sentence, it is possible to read this as a passive-voice construction, in which case laid would be correct. But could you also read … Read more
She lay on the beach while her son splashed at the water’s edge. or She laid on the beach while her son splashed at the water’s edge. Grammarly is indicating that both are correct, but Word Power says that the first is correct. Answer Your first sentence is correct: your second is incorrect. Lay and … Read more
The context is "The mercenaries lie/lay dead." "The animal lies/lays dead." It’s present tense and there’s a corpse involved. I’ve looked it up elsewhere and I just don’t understand the rules. Something about an object? Is a corpse an object? Answer Simple enough, once you understand it. Not too simple if you don’t. To begin … Read more
One of the following sentences is correct. I’m having some issues figuring out which sentence it is. I’ve added my thought process and what I think the error is. According to our team captain, an extraordinary challenge laid before us. I think the correction would be “will lay” because it’s future tense Licking her paws, … Read more
Prince’s Journal, Entry #1. Tonight I will get a headstart over my brothers and sisters, and set forth on my quest while they lay asleep. From what I understand, the verb after while should be used in its present tense because previously the prince used Future Simple tense. The usage of Future Simple and then … Read more
From a song by Bob Dylan: Lay lady lay, Lay across my big brass bed. Is lay lady lay grammatical? It looks like the guy confused the verb ‘lay’ with ‘lie’ here. Is it the case? Bob Dylan is not known for meticulously following grammar rules, remember. Answer Most song lyrics can be considered as … Read more
The ground was ice-cold, no hint of anyone having lay/laid/lain there at all. Which one is the correct option? Answer to lay – laid – laid – /to put something down/ to lie – lay – lain – /to rest or recline/ to lie – lied – lied – /to deceive, not tell the truth/ … Read more
He told me to lay on my stomach and play with my brother’s electric train set. Is to lay a typo? If I’m not mistaken, one can only lie on one’s stomach, not lay on it. For this to be a duplicate question, I would have had to ask, again, what are the differences about … Read more
I’m preparing for some competitive exam and I’m reading an English grammar book, in that I encountered a test on lie and lay, but I do have a doubt on two questions, I don’t know whether I’m right or not but let me tell you about my knowledge on usage of lie and lay Lie … Read more
