I have a number of lay's in my book usually in the context along the lines of - "The dog lay at her feet while she read." So would it instead be, "The dog lied (laid) at her feet while she read." ???
The key is to realize that there are
two completely different words which are both spelled
L-A-Y. The present tense of the verb
to lay is
lay. The past tense of the verb
to lie, when it means recline, is
lay. (The past tense of the verb
to lie, when it means tell a falsehood, is lied.)
"The dog lay at her feet while she read."
IF you are writing in past tense, then
lay is the past tense of
to lie and the sentence is correct.
IF you are writing in present tense, then lay is the present tense of
to lay and the sentence is wrong. (Hmmm, since the subject is
the dog, it would have to be
the dog lays, so I don't suppose you mean to be in present tense.)
- - - -
I've been trying to think of a quick rule of thumb. All I can come up with so far is to see whether you can substitute
sit or
put in the sentence. If
sit works, then you are using a form of
to lie. If
put works, you are using a form of
to lay.
Past Tense
The dog lay at her feet <--> The dog sat at her feet.
The dog
laid at her feet <--> The dog
put at her feet.
I
lay my coat on the bed <--> I
sat my coat on the bed.
I laid my coat on the bed <--> I put my coat on the bed.
Present Tense
The dog lies at her feet <--> The dog sits at her feet.
The dog
lays at her feet <--> The dog
puts at her feet.
I
lie my coat on the bed <--> I
sit my coat on the bed.
I lay my coat on the bed <--> I put my coat on the bed.
(Hmmm, that's not as useful as I'd like, because many people misuse sit/set the same way. Not to mention that it doesn't work so well for laying eggs, laying carpet, or getting laid. I guess if it were easy, someone would have already come up with one already. Back to the drawing board.)