lie - lay

EXERCISE 1

1. The dog has been on the back porch all afternoon.
2. The old tugboat has on its side since last winter's storm.
3. He yelled at his dog, " down!"
4. Yolanda and Chris have been carpet all day.
5. My brother around in bed all day.
6. Professor Espinoza her papers carefully on the podium before beginning her talk.
7. The team members were so exhausted after the game they just on the benches.
8. In the old children's prayer, we say, "Now I me down to sleep."
9. The police ordered the thieves to down in the street.
10. The thieves down on the pavement.
11. The thieves have there for several moments already.
12. He was when he said that he didn't see anyone there.
13. She about her experience in order to get that job.
14. You'll feel much better if you just down and rest for a while.
15. He the books on the table.
16. The hens aren't any eggs this week.
17. Why did they so many employees off at that company last year ?
18. He a serious charge against his employer.
19. What I did heavily on my conscience ever since.
20. The solution with you.

EXERCISE 2

1	Have you the table yet, Peter?
2	Gosh! How my feet ache. I haven't down all day.
3	Have you ever to your mother?
4	Minnie Cat has still in her basket all morning.
5	He has to parliament. He must resign.
6	He fell into the trap that the intelligence services had for him.
7	Joel had never before eyes on such a beautiful woman.
8	The ring has at the bottom of the river for centuries.
9	If you hadn't to me about it, I wouldn't have got so angry.
10	He's been off from his job.
11	Our chickens haven't any eggs in a week.
12	The builders' tools have around the garden all month.
13	If only you had to them, you would have saved yourself a whole lot of trouble.
14	She really into him about his getting drunk every Saturday night.

EXERCISE 3

1. After dinner, Charles on the floor.
2. We found him pieces of bananas on a plate.
3. Sophie was her thumb on the side of her nose.
4. Six pizzas on the table. (present tense)
5. Now I a basket in her lap.
6. The seal was in the sun.
7. The seal was dead fish in the sun. 8. There's no use the blame on Harriet.
9. Harriet was anchovies on the pizza and rubbing her hair, that was flat on the side of her head.
10. Tom five pizzas on the table and scratched his ear.
11. the book on the table.
12. down on the couch.
13. I it down here yesterday.
14. Last night I awake in bed.
15. I could have in bed all day.
16. They have an average of 500 feet of sewer line a day.
17. Every afternoon we down and rest for an hour.
18. on the beach and soaked up the sunshine.
19. Yesterday Juan on his sofa watching television for three hours.
20. The reports were on my desk this morning.
21. I distinctly remember my keys on the kitchen counter.
22. My headache was so intense yesterday that I had to down before dinner.

23. Marsha the triplets in the playpen while she cooked dinner.

24. Marsha the triplets in the playpen whenever she has work to do.

25. Hector on the beach all morning.

Lie means that the actor (subject) is doing something to himself or herself. It's what grammarians call a complete verb. When accompanied by subjects, complete verbs tell the whole story.
Lie means "to recline" or "be placed." It does not act on anything or anyone else. It is an intransitive verb.
"To lie" is an intransitive verb. It describes an action undertaken by the subject, but it has no direct object. That is, the verb "to lie" does not express the kind of action that can be DONE TO anything. Think of it as meaning "to recline."

I LIE here every day.
I LAY here yesterday.
I WILL LIE here tomorrow.
I AM LYING here right now.
I HAVE LAIN here every day for years.

Notice that we never use the word "laid" to describe the act of reclining.

Lay, on the other hand, means that the subject is acting on something or someone else; therefore, it requires a complement to make sense. Thus lay always takes a direct object. Lie never does.
Lay means "to place something down." It is something you do to something else. It is a transitive verb

"To lay" is a transitive verb. It describes an action and needs a direct object because it describes the kind of action that is DONE TO something. That is, something or someone in the sentence has to be receiving the action of the verb. Think of this verb as meaning "to place," "to put."

I LAY my book on the table every night before turning out the light.
I LAID my book on the table last night.
I WILL LAY my book on the table tonight.
I AM LAYING my book on the table right now.
I HAVE LAID my book on the table every night for years.

Always remember that lay is a transitive verb and requires a direct object. (A transitive verb acts as a conveyor belt, transmitting action or influence from the subject to the object.) The common saying, “Let's lay out in the sun,” is not only incorrect grammatically, it suggests a public promiscuity that's frowned on even in this age of sexual permissiveness because you're implying the existence of a direct object of lay: “Let's lay (her/him?) out in the sun.” Not that there's anything wrong with THAT!

You lay down the book you’ve been reading, but you lie down when you go to bed. In the present tense, if the subject is acting on some other object, it’s “lay.” If the subject is lying down, then it’s “lie.” This distinction is often not made in informal speech, partly because in the past tense the words sound much more alike: “He lay down for a nap,” but “He laid down the law.” If the subject is already at rest, you might “let it lie.” If a helping verb is involved, you need the past participle forms. “Lie” becomes “lain” and “lay” becomes “laid”: “He had just lain down for a nap,” and “His daughter had laid the gerbil on his nose.”

to lie (down)

I lie down.
I lay down.
I have lain down

You lie down.
You lay down.
You have lain down

He lies down.
He lay down.
He has lain down

We lie down.
We lay down.
We have lain down

They lie down.
They lay down.
They have lain down

I am lying down.
I was lying down.
I have been lying down

You are lying down.
You were lying down.
You have been lying down.

to lay (something down)

I lay the book down.
You lay the book down.
He lays the book down.
We lay the book down.
They lay the book down.

I am laying books down.
You are laying books down.

I laid the book down.
You laid the book down.
He laid the book down.
We laid the book down.
They laid the book down.

I was laying books down.
You were laying books down.

I have laid the book down.
You have laid the book down.
He has laid the book down.
We have laid the book down.
They have laid the book down.

I have been laying the books down.
You have been laying books down.

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