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Lay vs. Lie 1615 Views
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Want even more deets on Lay vs. Lie? Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.
Transcript
- 00:04
Lay versus Lie, a la Shmoop.
- 00:08
There's nothing quite so nice as laying in bed on a Saturday morning...
- 00:11
...or is it supposed to be lying in bed?
- 00:13
Argh! It's the weekend! We shouldn't have to be thinking about grammar!
- 00:17
Sorry... just a couple minutes of your time and then you can get back to sleep...
Full Transcript
- 00:21
Here's the rule for "lay" versus "lie"...
- 00:24
..."lay" requires a direct object...
- 00:28
...and "lie" does not.
- 00:29
Keep in mind... we're talking about the setting/reclining kind of "lie"...
- 00:32
...not the "lie" you tell your teacher when you forget to do your homework.
- 00:38
Let's look at some examples. You might tell your dog to lie down on the floor...
- 00:43
...and you might also tell him to lay his favorite bone down on the floor.
- 00:47
The example with "lay" has a direct object...
- 00:50
...the bone...
- 00:51
...but the example with "lie" does not. More examples! Helen laid the book on the table.
- 00:58
Tommy laid the hot dog on the plate.
- 01:01
Your mom has laid the car keys in your hand...
- 01:05
Notice how all of these sentences include direct objects...
- 01:08
...the book, the hot dog, and the car keys. Remember that sentences with "lie", on
- 01:13
the other hand, don't require direct objects.
- 01:16
You could say, "Grandpa is lying in the jacuzzi"...
- 01:19
...or, "Ethan has lain on the beach". See? No direct objects!
- 01:25
We get that it might be difficult to remember that "lay" requires a direct object...
- 01:30
...and "lie" does not. So, here are a couple of tricks to help you out.
- 01:34
Recall that the word "lie" means to "recline"...
- 01:36
...and the word "lie" sounds like it is in "rec-lie-ne".
- 01:41
Now, if you want to remember that the word "lay" requires a direct object...
- 01:46
...think of the phrase, "Lay it on me"...
- 01:48
...where you're laying something, that "it", on me.
- 01:53
There's a little additional craziness, however. The past tense of "lie"...
- 01:56
...which does not require a direct object...
- 02:00
...is "lay". Oy.
- 02:03
In this case, just remember the phrase, "Yesterday, down I lay." Still no direct object in sight.
- 02:08
And now that we've got this whole "lay" versus "lie" thing ironed out...
- 02:12
...you can go lie back down...
- 02:13
...if you think your brain will let you.
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