Lying Or Laying On The Floor

Lay means to place something down flat while lie means to be in a flat position on a surface the key difference is that lay is transitive and requires an object to act upon and lie is intransitive describing something moving on its own or already in position.

Lying or laying on the floor.

Sentences such as the following ones are wrong. Beyond the present tense the pair can become more confusing because lay is the past tense of lie and laid is the. And if you are in the process of telling an untruth you are lying and not laying. Here is a mnemonic from the website primility to help you tell laying and lying apart.

The more you can connect to the actual definitions of lying and laying the easier it becomes to use each word correctly for the specific acts. If you tell an untruth it is a lie not a lay. Varner is lying on a bed under multiple layers of sheets. Lying and laying.

They are going to lay the carpet. I was laying the blanket on the floor. A classroom trick is to say the word out loud. The i becomes a y.

The present participle of lie is not lieing. Another soldier was lying in a ditch with a rifle. Although he is in the desert and the weather is dry he has the impression of lying in water. A crunch begins with lying face up on the floor with knees bent.

When writing or speaking the english language the difference between lying and laying is commonly misconstrued and misused. Your best bet when deciding between the variations of lay and lie is to determine whether there is a direct object you re referring to. You ve been lying down all day. He phones hannah s father and apologizes for lying.

Lay is a transitive verb meaning it needs to transport something i e. When you lay the blanket down blanket is the direct object. If there is then use a form of lay.