Page 92 - Perfect English Grammar: The Indispensable Guide to Excellent Writing and Speaking

6.13 Lay versus Lie

One of the most confusing sets of conjugations in English are the present and
past forms of the verbs to lie: to recline

and to lay:

■ to put down (something or someone) Part of the confusion comes from

the close similarity of the verbs, where to lay myself down is very close in
meaning to lay me down. Most of the confusion, however, comes from the

past tense of to lie being lay, which is the root form of to lay. Additionally,
there seems to be some confusion about the fact that to lay is usually

transitive, meaning that something must be laid (a direct object), and to lie is
intransitive, meaning that nothing can be lied.

■ ■ Infinitive: to lay, to lie Definition: to put something or someone
■ ■ down; to recline Simple present: lay/lays, lie/lies Simple past: laid,

■ ■ lay Past participle: laid, lain Present participle: laying, lying Bad:
She is laying on the bed.

Good: She is lying on the bed.

Good: She lay on the bed yesterday.
Good: She should lie on the bed if she’s ill.
Good: She had lain on the bed all weekend.

Bad: Lie the pillows on the bed.

Good: Lay the pillows on the bed.
Bad: Yesterday she lay the pillows on the bed.

Good: Yesterday she laid the pillows on the bed.
Bad: She had laid on the bed until her neck hurt.

Good: She had lain on the bed until her neck hurt.

6.14 Gotten

In North American English, gotten is the past participle of to get, meaning