Lay or Lie?

J. Cheney

1. Lay is a verb which means to place something or to put down something. The verb is always preceded by an object. The other forms of lay are its past tense: laid and its present perfect tense: have laid.

2. Lie is an irregular verb which means to recline or to put one's body in a prone position as if one is rest on a bed. The forms of this verb are: lie, lay and have lain.

3. Lie is also a regular verb which means to tell a falsehood or is a noun which is the falsehood.

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  1. I am so tired since I went to bed so late last night. All I want to do now is to (lay, lie) down and go to sleep!

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  2. Please (lay, lie) those books on the desk and pick up your test here.

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  3. Last night I (lay, lie) down to take a catnap but fell deep asleep and did not awake until this morning.

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  4. A story from long ago says that George Washington refused to (lay, lie) to his father and admitted to chopping down the cherry tree.

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  5. For many of us, the ideal ending of a day is to (lay, lie) in bed and watch television or read a book.

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  6. Once the rules of the game were (laid, lied) out, we knew how to play.

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