lie / lay

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Which is correct:
I lie on my mother's lap.
I lay on my mother's lap. (since the object is sort of understood as being same as the subject)

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@sali,

Sali I'm impressed Sali by your determination to address this very tricky issue

http://www.chompchomp.com/rules/irregularrules02.htm

In everyday terms though, "lie" means I do it sometimes but probably not at this instant, in which case we'd say "I'm lying"; whereas "lay" gets more complicated where the implication is that you had laid yourself there

No sexual implications

Con, help, how can we reduce this to everyday collo

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@sali,

Both are correct.

Lie means to recline in present tense.
Lay means to recline in past tense.

When used in the present tense, lie means recline yourself (it doesn't take an object). Lay in present tense is something you do to an object. For example you can lay a flower on your mother's lap.

The confusing part is that lay is also the past tense of lie.

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@dalehileman,

Note however with "lie" that's probably past occurrences. The present usage sounds silly as having sat down at the table one announces, "I eat" where our reaction is well, yes, so I see

All this to avoid circumlocutory grammaticisms

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Thanks for your help. I'm not so concerned with the colloquial, but grammatically speaking, if it is implied that I am doing the action to myself, even though the word "myself" is not in the sentence, would I use lay instead of lie, since the object is implied. Or does it absolutely have to be stated, and I must say that I lie/lied in my mother's lap.

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@dalehileman,

Dale does not know know what he or she is talking about. Lie is not past tense in any context.

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@sali,

The grammatical term for something that you do to an object is "transitive". "Lay" is transitive (when used in present temse). "Lie" is intransitive.

I lie on my mother's lap. Is intransitive. You aren't doing the verb lie to anything.

I lay my head on my mother's lap. In this sentence there is something you are paying (your head).

Again, lay is also intransitive in past tense. Yesterday I lay on my mother's lap.

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@maxdancona,

Quote:

Lie is not past tense in any context.

Ala alack Sali if I conveyed the wrong impression, I'm no grammarian by any means. "I lie on my mother's lap" would ordinarily imply a "past tense" in the sense it implies an occasional act and very unlikely to be used in "present tense" because it would sound stilted in much the same sense that upon entry you wouldn't say, "I walk into the room" but instead, "Here I am"

Forgive me Sali if I'm stuck in the collo but in spite of my eloquent past as an erstwhile writer I'm struck dumb by the grammaticisms. Do you like that term, "erstwhile"

I use it because it's so much less pejorative than"former"

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@dalehileman,

You apparently don't understand what "present tense" means. You really shouldn't be answering grammar questions for ESL learners.

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@maxdancona,

Quote:

You apparently don't understand what "present tense" means.

Oh Max to the contrary I do understand a few of the simpler linguisticisms. You will however note my use of quotation marks ("…") suggesting a less-than-usual intention, meant to sub for a more complex and boring phrase such as, eg, "…a conventional usage, principally in colloquial context, in spite of its designated part of speech, conveying the implication of an activity occupying another chronologic consignment…"

Quote:

You really shouldn't be answering grammar questions for ESL learners.

Forgive me, all ESL, for I must be a really terrible person for overestimating your capabilities, while I welcome the revelation of any techniques that might better permit a more effective communication

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Dale ill man wrote:

while I welcome the revelation of any techniques that might better permit a more effective communication

Its not a matter of communication but of knowledge. You are not in a position to teach anything to anyone, as you have amply demonstrated since you first came to this forum.

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@timur,

My God Tim yes, I must be a terrible drag of only the most limited knowledge and so I apologize again, most profusely, to any and all upon whom I trespass intellectually

Sali, have I mislead you in any way, especially in the presumptions, ramifications, the uses and implications of "lie"
If so, my apologies and please let me know, I'll attempt clarification

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@dalehileman,

Fortunately for you, your incipient Alzheimer, which you humorously often cite, will make you forget what you just said in five minutes...

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@timur,

Quote:

...make you forget what you just said in five minutes...

Oh Tim….yea….but what was that

1 Reply

@dalehileman,

Oh, you forgot already!

1 Reply

@dalehileman,

dalehileman wrote:

upon entry you wouldn't say, "I walk into the room"

That is actually something I am very likely to say.

1 Reply

@sali,

sali wrote:

Which is correct:
I lie on my mother's lap.
I lay on my mother's lap. (since the object is sort of understood as being same as the subject)

"I lie" to describe a habitual action or one that is taking place as you speak (although this type of use is somewhat old fashioned: you are more likely to encounter 'I am lying')

I lie on my bed when I am tired; I lie on the ground and watch the stars every evening

"I lay" when the action is in the past.

I lay on my bed last night; I lay on a table once.

To successfully lie on someone's lap you'd have to be pretty small (like a baby) and hence would surely not be interested in verbs.

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@contrex,

Quote:

To successfully lie on someone's lap you'd have to be pretty small (like a baby) and hence would surely not be interested in verbs.

.... or you could find someone with a very big lap.

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@timur,

Quote:

Oh, you forgot already!

Yea Tim that was the intended inference, glad you acknowledged it lest our other participants remain in a state of puzzlement

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@contrex,

dalehileman wrote:
upon entry you wouldn't say, "I walk into the room"

Quote:

That is actually something I am very likely to say.

I express surprise

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