Lays or lies?

seun · Oct 5, 2006

Which is correct in this sentence?

He lies on the bed.

He lays on the bed.

I say 'lays' but almighty Spellcheck doesn't agree.

Akuma · Oct 5, 2006

lie, lied: to tell untruth

lie, lay, lain: to rest horizontally.

You're right.

arrowqueen · Oct 5, 2006

Only if he lay on the bed at some point in the past. He lies on his bed today.

It's all covered here:

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34436

JanDarby · Oct 5, 2006

He lies on the bed today. He lay on it yesterday.

"Lays" (with the S) can only refer to potato chips or what a hen does.

JD

MidnightMuse · Oct 5, 2006

Unless, of course, you're suggesting that - while on the bed - he's always telling lies.

*couldn't resist today*

JanDarby · Oct 5, 2006

Yeah, that's it. He lies on the bed and tells lies about how many Lays chips he's eaten and how many eggs his chickens are laying.

JD

blacbird · Oct 5, 2006

. . . while singing the lays of medieval minstrels.

caw.

blacbird · Oct 5, 2006

By the way, we now know that Ken Lay lied, but do we know where Ken Lay lies now?

caw.

veronie · Oct 5, 2006

Whenever I see "he lays on the bed" I want to ask, "he lays what on the bed?"

It should be "he lies on the bed" or, if in the past tense, he "lay on the bed yesterday."

The whole lie/lay thing isn't really so tough, just takes some thinking through.

Basically, think of this: Reclining (lie, lay, lain); placing something somewhere in an action (lay, laid, laying).

The tricky thing is that the present tense of the action word "lay" is the same as the past tense of the reclining word "lie" (They are both "lay"). Confused yet?

seun · Oct 6, 2006

I think I've missed something with the chips reference

Thanks for the replies. I'll see how 'lies' works out.

maestrowork · Oct 6, 2006

seun said:
Which is correct in this sentence?

He lies on the bed.

He lays on the bed.

I say 'lays' but almighty Spellcheck doesn't agree.

he "lies" in bed. He lay (past tense) in bed. He lies about lying in bed.

He lays something on the bed. He laid (past tense) something on the bed.

newmod · Oct 6, 2006

seun said:
I think I've missed something with the chips reference

seun, if I say Walker´s crisps, does that help? I think (but stand to be corrected) that Lays is what Walker´s crisps are called in the U.S.

Also (just in case anybody doesn´t know) chips in the U.S. are what we would call crisps.

Rolling Thunder · Oct 6, 2006

Is there a reason the past tense verb --laid-- is being missed here?

He laid on the bed, since yesterday.

JanDarby · Oct 6, 2006

Laid is past perfect of "Lie."

He lay on the bed since yesterday.

He had laid on the bed for weeks before that.

JD

seun · Oct 6, 2006

newmod said:
seun, if I say Walker´s crisps, does that help? I think (but stand to be corrected) that Lays is what Walker´s crisps are called in the U.S.

Also (just in case anybody doesn´t know) chips in the U.S. are what we would call crisps.

Ah, that explains it. :hooray:

maestrowork · Oct 6, 2006

Rllgthunder said:
Is there a reason the past tense verb --laid-- is being missed here?

He laid on the bed, since yesterday.

See post #11. Your usage is wrong. "Lay" is the past tense of "lie."

"Laid" is the past tense of "lay." So in your sentence, you need to say:

"He laid his shirt on the bed yesterday."

If you use "since" you need to say:

"He's laid on the bed since yesterday" or "He's lain the shirt on the bed since yesterday."

rtilryarms · Oct 6, 2006

So my new spring break chant is: Hey, ya wanna get lied?

maestrowork · Oct 6, 2006

English is so ****** up.

lie (to recline): requires no object: lie, lay, lain, lying.

lie (to speak falsely): requires no object: lie, lied, lied, lying.

lay (to put something down, to produce eggs, to have sex...); requires object: lay, laid, laid, laying.

seun · Oct 6, 2006

So Maestro, as I have an object, my line is:

"He lays on the bed"?

maestrowork · Oct 6, 2006

seun said:
So Maestro, as I have an object, my line is:

"He lays on the bed"?

Where is the object? The "bed" is not the object of the action? I know, it's confusing, but you are not doing anything to the bed. It's either:

He lies on the bed

or

He lays a sock on the bed

Rolling Thunder · Oct 6, 2006

Okay, I can see the point, when it's in writing. (Laid vs lay)

It just sounds so unnatural to my ear when I say the sentence out loud using 'lay':

"He lay in bed". Maybe it just sounds odd to me because of the differences in how words are spoken in different parts of the counrty?

writeofway · Oct 6, 2006

Lays or lies...how about...

He was positioned horizontally on the bed.

?

JanDarby · Oct 6, 2006

It just sounds so unnatural

Unfortunately, that's because so many people in the media use it wrong, so you're used to hearing it wrong and even -- sigh -- seeing it wrong in print. I cringed the first time Tom Brokaw said "I was laying on the beach ...."

Okay, I still cringe when I hear that sort of mistake, not so much with regular people, but especially when it's in the media or in something that was written by a writer and went through editing, and it's still wrong.

JD

maestrowork · Oct 6, 2006

Maybe Tom Brokaw really meant "I was having sex on the beach..."

OK, now I cringe.

allion · Oct 6, 2006

Thanks for the lovely mental picture, Ray. Yikes.

Karen

Lays or lies?

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